Category: personal

My trip to New York was great. My first event was the History and the Truth of Fiction panel, which was held at NYU. We had a great turn out, and it was particularly nice to see a few familiar faces in the crowd. Colum McCann, our moderator, was fantastic; he knew how to ask questions that would involve all of us and get us to discuss with one another. Several wraps up have popped up online (see, for instance, this, this, or this) and some photos as well.

One of the highlights of the PEN festival for me was getting to meet Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose latest novel, Desertion, was one of my favorites of last year. We were on one panel together, Where on Earth: The Refugee Emergency, which was about different experiences of exile, whether old or new, forced or desired, brutal or peaceful. (We also shared a memorable cab ride, during which the driver, a fellow Moroccan, treated us to his life story, including an anecdote about how he worked as a bartender for ten years while being an observant Muslim.)

My final event was a gathering of storytellers, with Jonathan Ames, Pico Iyer, Edgar Oliver, and Neil Gaiman. Ordinarily, Alex loves to talk to writers, but he was so intimidated that he fell completely silent in Neil Gaiman’s presence–which was quite amusing considering that Gaiman is so nice, and so down to earth. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Pico Iyer at the rehearsal, and heard so many wonderful stories of his travels, including the one he told at The Moth, about a trip to Aden to do research on a fourteenth-century Chinese Muslim eunuch admiral. (Yes, you read that last part right. More on Zheng He here.)

I didn’t get a chance to go to many other panels, but I loved the Town Hall Readings, and the panel on Gritty Realism, with Daniel Alarcon, Guillermo Arriaga, Jorge Franco, and Patricia Melo, moderated by the amazing Francisco Goldman. You can read various reports about the panels and readings at the World Voices blogs, and at TEV.

My last event for the PEN World Voices festival is a gathering of storytellers:

An Evening with The Moth
With Neil Gaiman, Pico Iyer, Laila Lalami; and Jonathan Ames as your MC
Thursday, April 26
8 – 10 PM
37 Arts: 450 West 37th St.
New York, New York
Tickets: $30 (includes wine and beer)
Purchase tickets from Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com or (212) 307-4100

See you there!

I am doing two events today. Here are details for the first:

PEN World Voices
Where on Earth: The Refugee Emergency
With Ishmael Beah, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Laila Lalami, Saadi Youssef; moderated by Russell Banks
Thursday, April 26
3 – 4:30 PM
Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College: 695 Park Ave.
New York, New York
Free and open to the public. No reservations.

Hope to see you there.

I’m in New York this week for the PEN World Voices festival. Here are the details for a panel to which I’m contributing today:

PEN World Voices
History and the Truth of Fiction
With Arthur Japin, Laila Lalami, Imma Monsó, Michael Wallner; moderated by Colum McCann
Wednesday April 25
1 – 2:30 PM
Hemmerdinger Hall at NYU: 100 Washington Square East
New York, New York
Free and open to the public. No reservations.

Hope to see you there.

Pankaj Mishra reviews Hisham Matar’s In The Country of Men, and my book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, for the April 12 issue of the New York Review of Books The review is freely available online, here.

The organizers of the PEN World Voices festival have announced their theme and program for this year. I will be taking part in three events. Here’s the first:

History and the Truth of Fiction
When: Wednesday, April 25
Where: Hemmerdinger Hall at NYU: 100 Washington Square East
What time: 1–2:30 p.m.
With Arthur Japin, Laila Lalami, Imma Monsó, Michael Wallner; moderated by Colum McCann
Free and open to the public. No reservations. 

The second:

Where on Earth: The Refugee Emergency
When: Thursday, April 26
Where: Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College: 695 Park Ave.
What time: 3–4:30 p.m.
With Ishmael Beah, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Laila Lalami, Saadi Youssef; moderated by Russell Banks
Free and open to the public. No reservations. 

And the third:

An Evening with The Moth
When: Thursday, April 26
Where: 37 Arts: 450 West 37th St.
What time: 8–10 p.m.
With Neil Gaiman, Pico Iyer, Laila Lalami; and John Hodgman as your MC
Tickets: $30 (includes wine and beer)
Purchase tickets from Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com or (212) 307-4100 

I know what you’re wondering. And yes, I would be nervous, except I haven’t left the house in four days, haven’t showered in two, I’m on my fourth cup of coffee, and I am almost done with Chapter 11 of my novel. My brain is fried, and I have no room for nerves.