PEN American Center at The New School: Liao Yiwu, Philip Gourevitch, and Salman Rushdie

Описание: School of Writing | http://www.newschool.edu/public-engag...

PEN American Center and The New School Present: Liao Yiwu, Philip Gourevitch, and Salman Rushdie

Poet, novelist, musician, and documentarian Liao Yiwu is one of China's most exciting and most censored writers. In his first U.S. appearance in nearly twenty years, Mr. Liao will be introduced by PEN World Festival founder and chair Salman Rushdie and interviewed by journalist Philip Gourevitch. The guest will read from his forthcoming book God Is Red: The Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China, and perform on xiao (Chinese flute), which he learned to play in prison.

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT | http://www.newschool.edu/public-engag...

Liao Yiwu has been called the "Studs Terkel of China" for his vivid literary portraits of the lives of ordinary Chinese. He was refused permission to travel to New York for the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature earlier this year, but Liao escaped to Berlin via the Vietnamese border last July 6. He had been imprisoned for four years in the 1990s for his epic poem "Massacre," a condemnation of the Chinese government's bloody suppression of the 1989 demonstration at Tiananmen Square. He has endured constant harassment since. Though his books are banned in China, he continues to write. PEN President Kwame Anthony Appiah notes, "As it gets harder for independent-minded writers to leave China, an opportunity like this to hear directly from a great Chinese writer is an increasingly precious thing."

Sponsored by the School of Writing in The New School for Public Engagement.

THE NEW SCHOOL | http://www.newschool.edu

Location: Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall.
09/13/2011 8:00 p.m.