Below are events which took place between 2002 and 2004. Visit the multimedia archive for recordings and photos.

Grace Paley Speaks in Forest Hills
November 18, 2004

Former vice president of PEN American Center, Grace Paley remains one of the most beloved contemporary Jewish writers, as well as one of the masters of American fiction, a writer whose works can stand beside those of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth, and Saul Bellow. Since their first appearance in 1959, her stories have achieved a cult or classic, status, loved for their earthy folk wit and tough, street smart wisdom.
 

Foreign Exchanges No. 4
June 7, 2004

The fourth event in PEN's Foreign Exchange series, this evening paired novelist Amy Tan with the Chinese writer Geling Yan (author of The Lost Daughter of Happiness).  Rick Moody introduced the evening and actors B.D. Wong and Mia Katigbak gave readings from Yan"s work.


Foreign Exchanges No. 3 
May 17, 2004

The third event in the PEN Foreign Exchange series featuring international writers in conversation with American writers, this event paired novelist Francisco Goldman (author of The Divine Husband) with the Guatemalan writer Rodrigo Rey Rosa (author of The Good Cripple).   Actors Wallace Shawn and Sam Tsoutsouvas read selections from Rey Rosa's work.

A Tribute to Gabriel García Márquez
November 5, 2003

Presented by PEN American Center and co-sponsored by Alfred A. Knopf and El Diario/La Prensa Featuring: Jon Lee Anderson, Paul Auster, Edwidge Danticat, Francisco Goldman, Edith Grossman, William Kennedy, José Manuel Prieto, Salman Rushdie, and Rose Styron. Curated by Esther Allen. Special video message from President Bill Clinton.
 

Writers' Block
September 30, 2003

PEN American Center, National Coalition Against Censorship, and American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression sponsored this reading to reflect on the freedoms to write and read seventy years after the Nazi book burnings. Frances FitzGerald, Margo Jefferson, Adelle Lutz, Rick Moody, Elizabeth Nunez, Grace Paley, and Francine Prose joined Master of Ceremonies Reno and the free-expression community in New York to mark the opening of Sheryl Oring's installation Writer's Block.
 

The Politics of Translation
September 16, 2003

A panel discussion with Ammiel Alcalay, Esther Allen, Michael Henry Heim, Michael Hofmann, Susan Sontag, and Steve Wasserman

A Tribute to Gertrude Stein
May 19, 2003

With: John Ashbery, Anne Carson, William Gass, Margo Jefferson, and Susan Sontag with assistance from Savitry Durkee. Curated by Wayne Koestenbaum and Catharine R. Stimpson.


A Tribute to Samuel Beckett
December 9, 2002

With: playwrights Edward Albee and Israel Horovitz; novelists Paul Auster and Peter Carey; critics Tom Bishop, Mel Gussow, Christopher Ricks and Richard Seaver; and actors Maria Aitken, Katherine Borowitz, Bill Irwin, Rosaleen Linehan, Marian Seldes, and John Turturro.