Worker Writers School 10th Anniversary Celebration & Book Release
Join PEN America on International Workers Day, May 1, 2021, to celebrate 10 years of partnership between PEN America and the Worker Writers School. In collaboration with Kenning Editions and Pilsen Community Books, they will be launching Coronavirus Haiku, the first anthology to come out of our longest-running writing program.
OPENING NIGHT: TUESDAY, MAY 18TH
The People’s History: Writing the Wrongs
Nearly one year has passed since uprisings across the United States and around the world decried anti-Black violence. Amid the pandemic, surging anti-Asian hate crimes have led to a swell of activism within, and in support of, AAPI communities. In a riveting opening night conversation moderated by Maria Hinojosa of Latino USA, whose recent memoir Once I Was You intimately explored America’s ongoing immigration crisis, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Imbolo Mbue confront questions of how to reconcile our collective pasts, challenging and reframing contested histories underlying today’s inequities.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19TH PROGRAM
The Stories Written into Our Bodies
The body and mind bear witness to, and absorb the trauma of, political unrest in the latest works from Lina Meruane, Grace M. Cho, and Mariana Enríquez.
Translating Hamilton: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?
Translator Kevin Schroeder joins with Sera Finale and Gen Parton-Shin to share the nuances of bringing ‘Hamilton’ to international audiences.
Graphics with Guts
G. Willow Wilson, Brian Mitchell, and Aminder Dhaliwal craft graphic novels with the guts to rewrite history.
PEN Presents: Jhumpa Lahiri with Maaza Mengiste
Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri discusses her new novel, Whereabouts.
Love and Language: Keiichiro Hirano and Juliet Winters Carpenter
Bestselling Japanese novelist Keiichiro Hirano presents a lecture on love followed by a conversation with translator Juliet Winters Carpenter.
