Two extraordinary poets, two languages, two experiences of exile, and a literary connection that reaches back decades.
For the first time in public, Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut Izgil (“Waiting to be Arrested at Night,” translated by Joshua L. Freeman) and Chinese poet Yang Lian (“A Tower Built Downwards,” translated by Brian Holton) will meet in New York to share their work and be in dialogue about poetry, language, memory, and what it means to write across borders, history, and exile. As a young writer in China, Izgil encountered Yang’s poetry in the 1980s. Today, both live in exile, carrying with them their own histories of displacement and a shared belief in the power of literature to preserve what political forces seek to erase.
The evening will feature readings by both poets in their original languages, followed by a conversation with simultaneous English interpretation. Literary translators Joshua Freeman and Nick Admussen will join them to consider translation as an art and as a way of carrying solidarity across borders.
A rare meeting of two vital literary voices, presented by PEN America’s Freedom to Write program, with support from the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program, which is generously funded by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.
A book signing will follow the event.