PEN Tour: Rochester

Where: Writers & Books, 740 University Ave., Rochester, NY

Open Letter Books and Writers & Books are joining together to bring three up-and-coming international authors to Rochester: Carsten Jensen, Najat El Hachmi, and Marcelo Figueras.

Carsten Jensen (Denmark) is the author of We, The Drowned a seafaring novel that’s been compared to One Hundred Years of Solitude for its epic scope and storytelling. Najat El Hachmi (Spain) was born in Morocco, writes in Catalan, and won the Ramon Llull Prize in 2008 for her debut novel, The Last Patriarch. In Kamchatka, Marcelo Figueras (Argentina) covers one of the most difficult periods in Argentina’s history, relating the experiences of a young boy in a safe house during the “Dirty War.”

All three authors will read from their work and discuss trends in international literature, the joys of being published in English translation, and the importance of festivals like PEN World Voices.

Free and open to the public.

This event is presented by PEN World Voices in collaboration with Writers & Books and Open Letter Books.