PEN events

PEN translates at Brighton Festival and more events upcoming including Man Booker event: PEN Translates 250 at Brighton Festival 6 May, 7pm Brighton and Hove Prep School, BN3 6NH £10 Since its launch in 2012, PEN Translates (the English PEN scheme to promote translation for books from other languages into English), has supported 250 titles. Among the authors it has brought us are widely recognised award-winners such as Alain Mabanckou, Han Kang and José Eduardo Agualusa. We mark this milestone at Brighton Festival in a panel, chaired by award-winning translator Daniel Hahn, celebrating the contribution of translation to the UK’s reading culture. Speaking with Daniel will be authors Yan Ge (China), Juan Pablo Villalobos (Mexico) and translator Sophie Hughes, whose work (The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán) was recently shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. Book tickets In Translation: A Man Booker International Prize Panel 16 May. 7pm Foyles Charing Cross Road, £5-8 In anticipation of the Man Booker International Prize winner announcement on Tuesday 21 May, we are proud to welcome a panel of the shortlisted translators for an evening of insight into the art of translation. This year's shortlist is: Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, Celestial Bodies (Sandstone Press) Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions) Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Calleja, The Pine Islands (Serpent's Tail) Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones Of The Dead (Fitzcarraldo Editions) Juan Gabriel Vásquez, translated by Anne McLean, The Shape of the Ruins (MacLehose Press) Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated by Sophie Hughes, The Remainder (And Other Stories) Joining us for a discussion about their shortlisted works will be Marilyn Booth, Jen Calleja, Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Sophie Hughes led by journalist, editor and literary critic Ellah Wakatama Allfrey. The event will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. This event is presented in partnership with Foyles and the Man Booker International Prize.   Book tickets Writers at Risk Gallery at Brighton Festival 4 – 26 May Brighton Dome Founders Room, BN1 1UE Free (check opening times at brightonfestival.org before visiting) On November 15 last year, PEN highlighted the cases of five writers who were victims of persecution. Two on the list – Miroslava Breach Velducea who was murdered in Mexico in 2017 and Dawit Isaak who disappeared in Eritrea 17 years ago – are no longer able to speak for themselves. The other three – Oleg Sentsov, Wael Abbas and Shahidul Alam (since released), were imprisoned in Russia, Egypt and Bangladesh respectively. They are but a small sample of 700 to 900 cases of persecution – ranging from forced exile and hiding to death threats and murder – against authors every year. This year Brighton Festival showcases a handful of authors still writing in very precarious circumstances wherever they are in the world in their ‘Writers at Risk’ Gallery. More information From our friends Damian Barr's Literary Salon Outsider Memoirs: Tracey Thorn and Dustin Lance Black 23 June, Theatre Royal Brighton. 7pm This summer, Damian Barr will bring his legendary literary salon to Brighton’s Theatre Royal for the third time, with guest authors Dustin Lance Black and Tracey Thorn, both of whom will read from their new memoirs. Author, director and activist Dustin Lance Black will read from his heartfelt, deeply personal memoir Mama’s Boy, which explores how one family built bridges across great divides. Singer, songwriter and writer Tracey Thorn, will read from her latest memoir, Another Planet, immersing us deep in her 1970s childhood, where ‘life was slow and very little happened, over and over again’. More information and tickets Copyright © 2019 English PEN, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: English PEN Free Word Centre 60 Farringdon Road London, Eng EC1R 3GA United Kingdom