Irish Arts Center's 14th Annual PoetryFest Opens With Special Guests

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Literature

Published on Monday, 27 November 2023 15:59

Written by Brad Balfour

The Irish Arts Center has been a haven for creative minds since the 1970s and one of its long running events is PoetryFest. The 14th Annual PoetryFest, running December 1 - 3, 2023 at the Irish Arts Centr (726 11th Ave) brings together poets and bards from both sides of the Atlantic.

The opening night festivities on December 1st features special guests Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Lucy Caldwell, Michelle Gallen, Michael Patrick MacDonald, Consul General Helena Nolan, and Dael Orlandersmith with festival poets Sara Berkeley, Tara Bergin, Timothy Donnelly, Elisa Gonzalez, Thomas McCarthy, Mary Noonan, Tom Sleigh, and curator Nick Laird.

After the opening festivities is a weekend of readings. On Sunday, December 3 is Desert Island Poems, in which Thomas McCarthy and Sharon Olds, in conversation with Nick Laird, have each poet choose five poems they would bring to a desert island with them.

To learn more, go to: https://irishartscenter.org/event/14th-annual-poetryfest

Irish Arts Center's 14th Annual PoetryFest
December 1 - 3, 2023

Irish Arts Center
726 11th Avenue
Hell's Kitchen, NYC

The 2023 New York Jewish Book Festival

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Literature

Published on Wednesday, 08 November 2023 09:33

Written by Brad Balfour

The 2023 New York Jewish Book Festival will be held from November 9 to the 19 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (36 Battery Pl, New York, NY 10280) and virtually. Featuring a slew of literary guests and speakers with panel discussions, the festival includes Mitch Albom, Itamar Rabinovich, Shaul Magid, Ralph Shayne, and many more.

As part of a special presentation Lois Lowry will speak on her classic Number the Stars with a performance of songs from the Number the Stars musical by Sean Hartley from the Kaufman Music Center. A leading authority on Jewish food, Leah Koenig celebrates la cucina Ebraica Romana, Roman Jewish food, within the pages of her new cookbook, Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen. Donald Margulies and Deborah Dash Moore’s essays illuminate and contextualize Halperin’s brilliant photographs in Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria, taking us back to the Jewish cafeteria. 

To learn more, go to: https://mjhnyc.org/new-york-jewish-book-festival/

The 2023 New York Jewish Book Festival
November 9 - 19, 2023

Merchant Logo Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280

PEN America World Voices Festival 2023: History, Power & Struggle

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Literature

Published on Tuesday, 02 May 2023 15:14

Written by Brad Balfour

Featuring more than 100 writers from 27 countries, the PEN America World Voices Festival is a celebration of writers and performers from around the world making their voices heard against the forces of censorship and oppression. Running May 10 to the 13th the festival includes performances in NYC and the greater Los Angeles area. The opening night festivities on May 11 features An Evening with Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah at the NYU Skirball Center. Known for his work chronicling an Africa on the brink of change while shedding light on the legacies and consequences of European colonialism, Abdulrazak Gurnah will be there along with with Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Nadifa Mohamed, Windham Campbell Literature Prize winner Aminatta Forna, acclaimed actor Esau Pritchett, Sudanese American musician Alsarah, and others.

PEN Letters: A Centenary Celebration is a 100-year journey through archival letters, notes, and speeches detailing PEN America's history held at Joe’s Pub. Los Angeles events include Writer/Scholar/Target: Online Harassment and the Threat to Free Expression on May 13th and Woman, Life, Freedom: The Role of Art in the Struggle For Human Rights on May 10th.

Speakers across the festival include:

• Natalie Diaz
• Jennifer Egan
• Abdulrazak Gurnah
• Saidiya Hartman
• Sheila Heti
• Andrey Kurkov
• Eileen Myles
• Jason Reynolds
• Gary Shteyngart
• Leïla Slimani
• Alejandro Zambra

And many more.

The closing night event is An Evening of Forbidden Books. In response to the recent onslaught of book bans across the country, PEN America is convening a celebration of the freedom to write, read, and think featuring dramatic readings from some of the most “dangerous” texts ever printed, from writers including Toni Morrison, Art Spiegelman, Kurt Vonnegut, and more.

To learn more, go to: https://worldvoices.pen.org/

PEN America World Voices Festival
May 10 - 13, 2023

New York City & Los Angeles