Amiri Baraka reads “Rhythm Travel” at the 2008 Beyond Margins Celebration.


Amiri Baraka Reads “Rhythm Travel”

May 2, 2010 | Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust | NYC 

With Eduardo Lago, Anne Landsman, José Manuel Prieto, and Salman Rushdie; moderated by Adam Gopnik 

Each of these panelists has made America their home, coming here from Spain, South Africa, Cuba, and India, respectively, and best-selling author and New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik, who leads today’s discussion, hails from Canada. Together they will discuss how increased familiarity with America and American fiction has altered their sense of fiction in general and their own writing in particular. They’ll also explore differences they see in American literature and contemporary writing in their own countries.

Two Worlds

The celebrated poet reads the seminal letter of political protest, in which she became the first and only person to date to refuse the highest honor bestowed upon an artist on behalf of the people. Background and discussion: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/16/adrienne-rich-national-medal-of-arts-letter/

Adrienne Rich declines the National Medal of Arts, 1997

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world.  Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.


Two Worlds

PEN America

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