October 15, 2007 | Donnell Library | New York City

Jaime Manrique and Sonia Sanchez host an evening saluting Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Harryette Mullen, Ernest Hardy, and Alberto Álvaro Ríos, winners of the 2007 Beyond Margins Award. Joining in the celebration are writers Adam Haslett, Marie Ponsot, and Monique Truong.

Discussed: the depth of whiteness, heterosexuality, and maleness as filters when processing culture and politics; what it is to be human; youth, recycling, and regeneration; Baldwin; the mythology of American history; Barbara Walters’s utterly complete whiteness; Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai; the one truly sexy thing America has created.

Also featured: readings by Marie Ponsot, Adam Haslett, and Monique Truong

PHOTO GALLERY
Copyright © 2007 Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center

LISTEN
• Entire conversation

• Monique Truong reading from Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Marie Ponsot reading from Recyclopedia by Harryette Mullen
• Marie Ponsot reading from The Theater of Night by Alberto Álvaro Ríos
• Adam Haslett reading from Blood Beats, Vol. 1 by Ernest Hardy