PEN World Voices Festival Wrap Party
International literati were out and about at the Hungarian Cultural Center last night for the official PEN World Voices Festival after party, the crowning social event of a week of stellar literary performances.
Zadie Smith practically glowed in a strapless dress, her hair swept back under a hair wrap that lent her a regal air. Her husband, Irish poet Nick Laird, was also present, receiving congratulations from the crowd on his stellar, pub-themed performance at the Cabaret earlier that evening.
Jeffrey Eugenides, author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides was a familiar face from last year’s festival, while newcomer Morten Ramsland (Doghead) attended with his Danish Publisher, Jakob Malling Lambert, Literary Director and Publisher of Rosinante & Co.
Georg Aescht, Director of the Bonn Foundation for East German Cultural Counsel and head of the Berlin Literature Festival, admitted to being quite taken with the spoken word performance of Sekou (Tha Misfit) and Steve Connell at the PEN Cabaret.
Speaking of spoken word… two-time HBO Def Poet and playwright Steve Connell turned out to be as lively offstage as he was on (we tried to get the DJ to play some American hip hop, but alas, there was only Hungarian hip hop to be had). Todd Zuniga, founding editor of Opium Magazine and co-creator of Literary Death Match showed that his dancing skills are on par with his editorial (and sartorial) flair. I also had a lovely chat with Pierre Blaizeau, Technical Director of Productions at Jeux-Films, and the ever-busy Bob Giovanelli (if you haven’t seen his charming short film, ‘Tis the Season, do so immediately!)
Earlier that day, I caught up with Ramsland and Peruvian author Santiago Roncagliolo over coffee before their 5Pm panel,“On Translation,” at the FIAF’s Tinker auditorium. They bonded over the fact they were both fathers and writers, and loving both experiences.
The subject of family is present in both of their writings. Ramsland’s Doghead is a multigenerational saga about a dysfunctional family and the narrator’s drive to preserve and his family’s many stories. When asked if some of the colorful characters were based on family members, Morten admitted to borrowing some aspects from life.
Like Askild in the novel, Ramsland’s grandfather was arrested and held in a concentration camp for smuggling during World War II, and later turned to painting as a creative outlet (though his cubist leanings are an invention of the author). Some of Askild’s other character traits also come from the Ramsland patriarch, but I’ll leave such details to the imagination of the reader. (see a full review of Doghead here.)
Roncagliolo said that even if he doesn’t create characters based on his family members, his family, and particularly his father, often “read into” characters and think they see themselves. Roncagliolo is a writer and translator who has lived in Mexico, Spain and Peru. His thriller Red April won the 2006 Alfaguara Prize and will be released in English in May 2009. He says that many of his earlier books featured disreputable or harsh fathers, and that his own father was distraught for a long time, convinced that his son was trying to make a statement to his old man through his writing! He’s since convinced Dad that the characters are pure fiction, and now he never misses one of his son’s books. I don’t plan on missing any of them, either.
What a week! Check back soon for more postings from the front lines of the PEN World Voices Festival.
Thank you,
very interesting article
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