NBCC at PEN World Voices
by David Varno | May-04-2009
Photo copyright © 2009 Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American CenterAs a participant in this year’s PEN World Voices festival, a week-long marathon of 80 events featuring twice as many authors from over 40 countries, the NBCC held a unique role. The panel that took place this past Friday at the Scandinavian House, titled “This Critical Moment,” featured board members Eric Banks and Rigoberto Gonzalez along with past Balakian candidate Laila Lalami, Allisa Valles speaking for Kevin Prufer, and board president Jane Ciabattari serving as moderator.
Each panelist presented on select authors who were in town for World Voices to give readings and lectures, exploring their literary context as well as that of the festival’s programming. Eric Banks discussed the latest generation of German-language literature, and commented that PEN is giving an introduction with this year’s festival to several authors who don’t yet have a wide readership in the states; Rigoberto Gonzalez talked about the three main groups of Mexican (or part-Mexican) writers, and made a plea for fiction writer Álvaro Enrigue to be more widely translated; Laila Lalami explored the many aspects of Nawal El Saadawi; and Alissa Valles discussed the new Basque canon and made the afternoon’s second plea for translation: the poetry of Bernardo Atxaga. Jane Ciabattri concluded with her “notes on Z”: a celebration of Zimbabwean short story writer Pettina Gappah.
Full coverage of the panel, including lengthy quotes from each talk, is available on my earlier posts for Words Without Borders in two parts: Part One, Part Two. Laila Lalami comments on the panel here.
About the Critical Mass Blog
Commentary on literary criticism, publishing, writing, and all things NBCC related. It's written by independent members of the NBCC Board of Directors (see list of bloggers below).
Subscribe
Follow @bookcritics
Categories & Archives
- Adventures in E-Reading |
- Awards |
- 2007 Awards |
- 2008 Awards |
- 30 Books in 30 Days |
- Live announcement of NBCC Awards finalists |
- 2009 Awards |
- 2010 Awards |
- 2011 Awards |
- 31 Books in 31 Days |
- What I'm Looking Forward to Reading |
- Celebrating Philip Roth |
- Conversations with Literary Websites |
- Articles |
- Craft |
- Critical Library |
- Criticism |
- Critical Outtakes: Discussions With Writers |
- In Retrospect |
- Industry News |
- Interviews |
- NBCC Campaign to Save Book Reviews |
- NBCC 35th Anniversary |
- NBCC Featured Review |
- NBCC News |
- Q&A |
- Remembrances |
- NBCC Reads |
- Roundups |
- The Critical I: Conversations With Critics and Review Editors |
- The Next Decade in Book Culture |
- The Rest of the Best |
- Thinking About New Orleans: A Series About New Orleans Writers Post Katrina |
- Videos |
- Small Press Spotlight
Upcoming Events
National Book Critics Circle at the AWP in Chicago: March 02nd, 2012
National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists Reading: March 07th, 2012
National Book Critics Circle Annual Membership Meeting: March 08th, 2012
National Book Critics Circle Annual Membership Lunch: March 08th, 2012 BUY TICKETS
National Book Critics Circle Awards Ceremony and Reception: March 08th, 2012 BUY TICKETS