May 2013
7 posts
“We find our homes in any direction,
our shadow of pain comes trailing after us.”
– Tararith Koe, Cambodian poet
(translator: Aisha Down)
4 tags
Testament of Mary
The following blog was written by PEN World Voices correspondent Judith Benét Richardson.
Jeremy McCarter was the skillful moderator of this fascinating panel, introducing immediately the Festival’s theme of bravery.
Colm Tóibín, the author of the novel TESTAMENT OF MARY, replied that in a now more secular Ireland, he had only needed private bravery, to face the lurking Catholic attachments of...
3 tags
Fran Lebowitz/A.M. Homes
The following blog was written by PEN World Voices correspondent Judith Benét Richardson.
A.M. Homes seemed to enjoy drawing Fran Lebowitz’s fire for all to enjoy. In other words, they seemed to be friends.
Fran Lebowitz, famously witty and acerbic, showed that side of herself, but her remarks reflected a search for truth. She says herself that she is an observer. She pays attention, as...
7 tags
“Seven on Seven: Bravery in Poetry”
– This star-studded panel presented some of their favorite poets to an appreciative audience on Wednesday evening at the New School. Alice Quinn introduced them as “all log-rollers,” and beamed through the readings like a benevolent deity.
Mary Karr introduced us to the “bitter wisdom” of Zbigniew...
May 2012
6 posts
Children's Rights
Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s description of this event was excellent, but I did want to add a few further notes.
I attended this event with my daughter, an Asian-American teacher in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. She was especially riveted by the story of Arn Chorn-Pond and his journey from the killing fields of Cambodia to Lowell, Massachusetts. His work in human rights, using the...
Best European Fiction 5/5/12
Aleksandar Hemon was a wonderful moderator for this interesting group of writers, as he takes so seriously the idea that we must read works from other countries, translate them, discuss them, and understand where they are coming from.
Róbert Gál from Slovakia, Nöelle Revaz from Switzerland and Patrick Boltshauser from Lichtenstein each in their own way, made us see the rewards of making this...
Herta Müller: CAN LITERATURE BEAR WITNESS?
This extremely crowded event in a small room of Deutsches Haus in Washington Mews could certainly have been held in a larger venue, but was riveting to those who managed to squeeze in the doors.
The dramatic-looking Müller, who in her photos can resemble a Japanese noh actor, revealed her personal side as an impassioned partisan of language and truth.
The Nobel speech, which she read, is posted...
1 tag
Times Talks: Atwood, Doctorow and Amis
We gathered in a theater looking into the center well of the glassy NYTimes building; the stage was backed by green grass and a white birch forest.
A.L. Scott was an excellent moderator who seemed to enjoy the jousting of these three luminaries. In discussing their Times essays of April 29th on the future of America, they had agreed that Atwood’s was the silliest, involving the views of visiting...
1 tag
Shuffle: The Elevator Repair Service 5/3/12
This was a mystifying event. In the enormous atrium of NYU’s Bobst Library, we gathered under purple banners to find that our venue was the side of the lobby and some stacks in which we were to wander. So far, so good. We like books and libraries. But when the mash-up began, the questions started to form. What was going on? My companion said it was exactly like a cocktail party at which you know...
1 tag
In Conversation: Herta Müller and Claire Messud
In the cavernous auditorium of the 92nd St Y, a large audience hung on every word uttered by the petite Herta Müller. At first soft-spoken, she told more of her personal life, than she had a Deutsches Haus earlier in the week. As the evening progressed, her answers became more impassioned and she appeared like a small eagle - powerful and focused.
Language is nothing without humans, she said, and...
