May 3 |  Cooper Union's Great Hall | NYC

The fourth annual PEN World Voices Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture was presented by Egyptian novelist, psychiatrist, and activist Nawal El Saadawi. PEN President and acclaimed author Kwame Anthony Appiah joined Dr. Saadawi on stage for a far-reaching conversation about her life and work.

For more than 50 years, Dr. Saadawi has written books that focus on identity, sexuality and the legal status of women—particularly Arab women—and has continued her work despite the fact that these activities cost her her position as Egypt’s Director of Public Health and led to imprisonment, threats to her life, and, ultimately, exile. One of the leading literary, cultural, and political voices of our times, Saadawi once noted, “Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies.”

Cosponsored by Cooper Union

PHOTO GALLERY
• View the photo gallery on Flickr

 LISTEN
• Entire event (1:08:30)

VIDEO
• Entire event

PEN Blogs

• anderbo.com: “Is the freedom to write separate from other freedoms?” This is how the fourth annual Arthur Miller Freedom to Write lecture with Egyptian novelist and activist Nawal El Saadawi began on Sunday in Cooper Union’s Great Hall. [More]

• Shaun Randol: According the arguments put forth by Nawal El Saadawi at the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, nobody in the world is truly free. [More]

• Deji Olukotun: She appeared at three events.  Wearing a brightly colored dress and beautiful silver hair, she would raise her hand.  Each time she would ask a difficult, penetrating question in a spritely, musical voice that challenged an author on a PEN World Voices Panel. [More]