Participants:  Anderson Tepper and Ludmila Ulitskaya

Recipient of the 2002 Russian Booker Prize, Ludmila Ulitskaya is considered the heir to Chekhov and among the most important writers in Russia today. In 2008, Ulitskaya began secretly corresponding with Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience” Mikhail Kordorkovsky, the anti-Putin Russian oligarch serving 14 years in a Siberian camp. The author will read excerpts from that correspondence and discuss the current political, cultural, and social situation in Russia, with special attention to the ongoing anti-Putin protests and the recent presidential election.  For more information: http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/6451/prmID/2206

The Eighth Annual PEN World Voices of International Literature
New York City, April 30-May 6, 2012

*Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Michael Cunningham, E. L. Doctorow, Jennifer Egan, Aleksandar Hemon, Etgar Keret, Tony Kushner, Philipe Levine, Claire Messud, Herta Müller, Francine Prose, Salman Rushdie, Luc Sante, Marjane Satrapi, Sonia Sanchez, Ludmilla Ulitskaya, Kronos Quartet, Elevator Repair Service, *and many more -- 100 writers from 25 nations convene in New York to celebrate the power of the written word in action. Engage with literature in bold and unexpected ways and discover how words can be amplified through music, theater, puppetry, film, and much more. The program features performances, discussions, one-on-one conversations, and readings at venues crisscrossing the city, from Harlem to Wall Street, including the festival hubs -- The Standard, New York; The Standard, East Village; and the High Line.

www.pen.org/festival