Fiction that Matters

Haiti in Two Acts: a hard-hitting panel on literature and politics in Haiti on 5/5

In January 2010, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people. Three years later, what has changed? What is the role of literature as Haiti rebuilds? What are the untold stories of this vibrant, expressive country? Act I: An expert delivers remarks about the country. Act II: Local writers respond to questions raised. 

Participants: Jean-Euphèle Milcé, Emmelie Prophéte, Amy Wilentz, Shoshana Guy

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PEN Mourns Loss of Free Expression Defender Edward de Grazia

PEN is saddened by the loss of Edward de Grazia, a lawyer, playwright, and longtime PEN member who devoted his life to fighting censorship and promoting free expression. He will be missed.

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photo courtesy of Cardozo Law School

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OPENING NIGHT READING: BRAVERY

The Ninth Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature

Hosted by comedian Baratunde Thurston

Monday, April 29, 7-8:30 p.m., The Great Hall, Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, NYC

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Bravery in art, democracy in politics, and the sheer raw zeniths and nadirs of modern life. Join us as we kick off this year’s festival with a stellar line-up of authors including NAJWAN DARWISH, “one of the 39 best Arab writers under the age of 40”; JOY HARJO, a formidable voice in the second wave of “Native American Renaissance”; MIKHAIL SHISHKIN, one of the best contemporary Russian writers; award-winning Caribbean writers JAMAICA KINCAID and EARL LOVELACE; 2012 German Book Prize winner URSULA KRECHEL; Air Force Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force DAVID FRAKT whose defense counsel of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad earned him an international reputation as a champion of human rights; Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve DARREL VANDEVELD, former prosecutor for the U.S. Military Commissions, from which he resigned to protest the lack of due process afforded to the Guantanamo detainees; up-and-coming Nigerian writer A. IGONI BARRETT, whose Love Is Power, Or Something Like That, is due in May; and VADDEY RATNER, survivor of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime and author of the New York Times bestseller In the Shadow of the Banyan. 

The event is hosted by comedian BARATUNDE THURSTON, formerly of The Onion and author of the New York Times bestseller How To Be Black. 

PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, April 29-May 5, 2013. Chaired by Salman Rushdie, this year’s festival explores bravery in art, politics and personal life. Join us for a variety of events including panel discussions, one-on-one conversations, participatory workshops and performances at venues crisscrossing the city. 

WORLDVOICESFESTIVAL.ORG

photo of Joy Harjo © Karen Kuehn

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Are you an activist? Check out our special curated guide to the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature next week.

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Photo © Beowulf Sheehan / PEN American Center

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In 2011, two separate lawsuits were filed against Cisco Systems alleging that its technology enabled the government of China to monitor, capture, and kill Chinese citizens—including writers—for their views and beliefs. Find out how last week’s Supreme Court decision may dramatically affect these suits.

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Photo by Phil Roeder.

The letter that opened author Richard Wright’s FBI file in 1942 for his work “Twelve Million Black Voices”.

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Paris-based collective records music video to support Cameroonian writer, poet, and politician Enoh Meyomesse, who is currently serving 7 years in prison.

Click here to read an interactive timeline or click here to send an e-letter to Cameroonian authorities.

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Five Questions with Patrice Nganang, Cameroonian author, poet, and human rights defender

Author, poet, and professor Patrice Nganang has been one of the foremost advocates on behalf of PEN Honorary Member Enoh Meyomesse, a writer and politician who was sentenced in December 2012 to seven years in prison. (Click here to view an interactive timeline about Enoh Meyomesse or click here to send an e-letter to the government of Cameroon.) We connected with Patrice over email to find out more about his work.

1. Why is the case of Enoh Meyomesse important in Cameroon?

Every case of a human rights violation is important. The principle is simple. In a republic, every citizen is in danger when an innocent person is in prison. As for Enoh, his capture, torture, incarceration, and sentencing are an epitome of how free-thinking citizens are treated in Cameroon today. Enoh Meyomesse was a writer and a presidential candidate who was rounded up on his return from a trip abroad while his house was ransacked at the same time. He was kept in solitary confinement for a month, and then thrown in jail and sentenced to seven years in prison, without any accuser, without anybody testifying against him, without any proof of his wrongdoing, and then sentenced by a military tribunal even though he is a civilian. One has to imagine a country in which such a thing can happen while the president of Cameroon declares in Paris, in front of the international press, that there are no human rights violations in Cameroon, and claims that the country is the freest on earth. Enoh Meyomesse’s case reminds us how rotten the political system is in Cameroon and the cost of a lack of international news about the country, or about French-speaking African countries for that matter, and why people awake only when a country like Mali collapses.

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Slideshow: Chinua Achebe reads at PEN’s 2008 Tribute to Achebe.

Click here to listen to Achebe read from his 1958 novel Things Fall Apart.

All photos © Beowulf Sheehan / PEN American Center