North Country Institute for Writers of Color

Writers of color: You have until May 31 to apply for the Center for Black Literature‘s North Country Institute for Writers of Color retreat.

The retreat takes place from July 6 to 10 at the Valcour Educational Conference Center in Plattsburgh, New York, on the shores of Lake Champlain. This year’s workshop leaders are Ernesto Quiñonez (fiction) and Marita Golden (memoir).

PEN World Voices Festival

Over the weekend I attended several events at this year’s PEN World Voices Festival and blogged about them for Words Without Borders: Patti Smith and Jonathan Lethem, Toni Morrison and Marlene van Niekerk, and finally Ben Okri and Anderson Tepper.

(At the National Book Critics Circle blog, Jane Ciabattari covers different ground on the Patti Smith and Toni Morrison events.)

Seeing Ben Okri was a particular treat for me, though I was disappointed not to see more writers from sub-Saharan Africa. Next year maybe Chimamanda, Petina Gappah, Chris Abani, or Maaza Mengiste?