this is why i moved to new york
(despite the prevalence of bicycle thievery)
Because it's where things like this happen:
PEN World Voices 2006: The New York Festival of World Literature
Pamuk, Rushdie, Smith, Achebe, Gordimer, Appiah, Atwood, Khoury, Mehta, Winterson, Al-Aswany, Rodriguez--who shall I see first? The list of names on this program looks like my diasporic bookshelves, reunited. Thank God I'm only working part-time, so I can indulge as much as possible when this begins in two weeks. Also so many other writers I admire: Nilüfer Göle (a Turkish intellectual who's written one of my favorite books on the politics of hijab), the queer Chinese-Jamaican poet Staceyann Chin, the Turkish-German activist and journalist Necla Kelek, Philip Gourevitch, whose book on Rwanda had an indelible effect on my politics & worldview when I read it in my teens, Upamanyu Chatterjee, who introduced the term "hazaar f•cked" to my vocabulary.....
Alas, though, no word yet on whether the ACLU & PEN have made headway in their lawsuit to force the fools at Homeland Security to give Tariq Ramadan a visa. The theme this year is 'Faith and Reason', and his contribution to the discussion would no doubt be considerable.
But all this lavish opportunity does pose something of a dilemma. While a number of talks/panels/readings are free, the big-name events are ticketed, and I must be frugal. I will definitely go to the big "Faith and Reason: Writers Speak" panel, and I'm considering paying to hear Pamuk give the "Arthur Miller Freedom to Write" keynote lecture, even though I've heard him speak before--but on the other hand, perhaps he'll just cover ground familiar to me? Still, I'm finally reading Istanbul: Memories and the City, and as a result am feeling kindly towards him. Also, Margaret Atwood will follow up with a conversation, and I've never had the chance to see her. "The Limits of Tolerance: Multiculturalism Now?" looks like a firecracker--I am very interested in hearing K. A. Appiah, and my passionate attachment to Richard Rodriguez's book Days of Obligation makes this hard to pass up. And then there's Zadie, or the panel on HIV, or Amartya Sen & Rushdie, etc. etc. etc. So what say ye, readers? Given my meagre funds, who should I go see?
And we haven't even started on the free stuff: women poets of the Middle East, an interesting session on honor killings (which will include Kelek, who's done a lot of work on the issue in Germany, as well as Turkish author and activist O.Z. Livaneli), public readings of works by authors who have been barred from entering the US over the years under anti-Communist provision and the Patriot Act, a panel called "Writing Faith", and this, which is an absolute must:
Because it's where things like this happen:
PEN World Voices 2006: The New York Festival of World Literature
Pamuk, Rushdie, Smith, Achebe, Gordimer, Appiah, Atwood, Khoury, Mehta, Winterson, Al-Aswany, Rodriguez--who shall I see first? The list of names on this program looks like my diasporic bookshelves, reunited. Thank God I'm only working part-time, so I can indulge as much as possible when this begins in two weeks. Also so many other writers I admire: Nilüfer Göle (a Turkish intellectual who's written one of my favorite books on the politics of hijab), the queer Chinese-Jamaican poet Staceyann Chin, the Turkish-German activist and journalist Necla Kelek, Philip Gourevitch, whose book on Rwanda had an indelible effect on my politics & worldview when I read it in my teens, Upamanyu Chatterjee, who introduced the term "hazaar f•cked" to my vocabulary.....
Alas, though, no word yet on whether the ACLU & PEN have made headway in their lawsuit to force the fools at Homeland Security to give Tariq Ramadan a visa. The theme this year is 'Faith and Reason', and his contribution to the discussion would no doubt be considerable.
But all this lavish opportunity does pose something of a dilemma. While a number of talks/panels/readings are free, the big-name events are ticketed, and I must be frugal. I will definitely go to the big "Faith and Reason: Writers Speak" panel, and I'm considering paying to hear Pamuk give the "Arthur Miller Freedom to Write" keynote lecture, even though I've heard him speak before--but on the other hand, perhaps he'll just cover ground familiar to me? Still, I'm finally reading Istanbul: Memories and the City, and as a result am feeling kindly towards him. Also, Margaret Atwood will follow up with a conversation, and I've never had the chance to see her. "The Limits of Tolerance: Multiculturalism Now?" looks like a firecracker--I am very interested in hearing K. A. Appiah, and my passionate attachment to Richard Rodriguez's book Days of Obligation makes this hard to pass up. And then there's Zadie, or the panel on HIV, or Amartya Sen & Rushdie, etc. etc. etc. So what say ye, readers? Given my meagre funds, who should I go see?
And we haven't even started on the free stuff: women poets of the Middle East, an interesting session on honor killings (which will include Kelek, who's done a lot of work on the issue in Germany, as well as Turkish author and activist O.Z. Livaneli), public readings of works by authors who have been barred from entering the US over the years under anti-Communist provision and the Patriot Act, a panel called "Writing Faith", and this, which is an absolute must:
Friday 5:00 pmI think I am going to enjoy this all very much, and probably spend far too much money on books.
The Global City
Alaa Al-Aswany, Paulo Lins, Melania G. Mazzucco, Carlos Monsiváis, Orhan Pamuk; moderated by Suketu Mehta
With the majority of the world’s population now inhabiting urban areas, what is the future of the global city? Writers from six very different cities—Bombay, Rome, Cairo, Istanbul, and Mexico City—talk about constructing the metropolis with words.
posted by kitabet at 8:36 PM
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