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S3 Ep7: The World Voices Festival from PEN America!
33 Plays25 days ago
Heather and Veronica chat with Sabir Sultan, the director of the World Voices Festival for PEN America. Listen to find out what's coming up, an inside look at the festival and for a few great recommendations for new books!
A podcast from 1852 Media.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Guest
00:00:00
Heather Roberts
Hi, I'm Heather Roberts.
00:00:02
Veronica Adams
I'm Veronica Adams and we are 1852 Media.
00:00:10
Sabir Sultan
Thank you.
00:00:15
Heather Roberts
Hello, everybody. That was flawless, by the way, that intro. I'm so proud of us. Welcome back to For Book's Sake. ah We are here today with Sabir Sultan.
World Voices Festival Overview
00:00:27
Heather Roberts
He is the director of the World Voices Festival and Literary Programs at PEN America. And we are so excited to have him on here today to talk about the World Voices Festival specifically.
00:00:35
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:00:39
Heather Roberts
And I'm going to be diving a little bit into some publishing questions with him because he's here and we have him. And of course we can. um Most recently, he was the director of events at the Strand Bookstore.
00:00:54
Heather Roberts
um And previously he was an events manager at Barnes and Noble. He has a broad background in managing author and publisher relations, and he went to Bard College and George Mason University.
00:01:05
Heather Roberts
So welcome Sabir to For Books' Sake.
00:01:08
Veronica Adams
Yes, it's lovely to have you.
00:01:10
Sabir Sultan
Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
History and Evolution of the Festival
00:01:13
Heather Roberts
Well, first, why don't you tell me about your role with PEN America and what is the World Voices Festival?
00:01:20
Sabir Sultan
Sure. So I started with PEN America about three years ago, almost. I don't know how that much time has passed, but I like oversee the PEN World Voices Festival. It was founded 20 years 2004 by It was very much in the wake of 9-11, and this idea was to address U.S. isolationism, to bring in international voices. And I should also say he co-founded it with the translator Esther Allen.
00:01:53
Sabir Sultan
And so there was also an element there of bringing in translated literature to American audiences.
00:01:53
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:02:01
Sabir Sultan
But it really started in this, the sort of like inside pen lore is it was just him calling up all of his friends being like, come to a festival with me, like had the idea one night. And then the like executive director was just sending emails and Salman was calling people.
00:02:18
Heather Roberts
but false
00:02:18
Sabir Sultan
And so, yeah, it's, it's fun.
00:02:22
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:02:22
Sabir Sultan
And so,
00:02:22
Veronica Adams
no one says no to someone like Salman Rushdie either, right?
00:02:24
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:02:25
Veronica Adams
Like what a, you know, what ah what an established author. So, you know, you get that phone call you're just like, course we'll be there. So,
00:02:33
Sabir Sultan
yeah How do you say no? It's like, yeah.
00:02:35
Veronica Adams
right.
00:02:37
Sabir Sultan
And actually, he's ah the honorary guest chair of this year's festival, which we're very excited about.
00:02:42
Veronica Adams
Well, that's awesome.
00:02:44
Heather Roberts
That's so cool. So what does it look like now compared to what it looked like back in those days?
Festival Organization and Highlights
00:02:50
Sabir Sultan
oh I would say it's become a lot more coherent and like organized in some ways. Like ah the festival model, and this was like really up until the pandemic was all spread all over New York city.
00:03:08
Sabir Sultan
Like there were a lot of events centered in the village given it's sort of like history of writers, the beatniks, like it has such a like storied lore.
00:03:19
Sabir Sultan
But there'd be events in the Bronx. There'd be events in like a Queens museum. So people would go all over the city and it would be like 60 events over the course of a week.
00:03:31
Sabir Sultan
And then now we're saner. Or like they have a festival director who gets more tired more easily. So it's like 35 events over four days. And they're all centered within Greenwich Village still.
00:03:45
Sabir Sultan
And it's it' a lot of fun. and We're still keeping that same vibe of like trying to bring books into areas where they're not necessarily expected. So there are like some classic event spaces, like we'll do the Strand bookstore or work with the new school, but we'll also do like fun things. Like we're in La Mama, Joe's pub, like at the LGBTQ center.
00:04:10
Sabir Sultan
And so it's really trying to bring these like programs to people where they are and like invite them in.
00:04:18
Heather Roberts
Nice. is it mostly Is it mostly speaker or panel? like That's what it is structured as? I know a little bit about the festival. I know you're moderating the panel, but...
00:04:26
Sabir Sultan
did
00:04:29
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, well, it is mostly panel conversations, I would say, and that's partially, ah love a panel conversation.
00:04:37
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:04:37
Sabir Sultan
Yeah. yeah
00:04:38
Heather Roberts
love What is the one that you're doing? ah Can you remind me?
00:04:44
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, I'm doing Bringing Back Books They Love with Joyce Carol Oates and Carmen Beusa. And the idea behind that panel is they both recently re-released books they'd written like in Joyce's case, I think almost like two decades ago, and then Carmen's over a decade ago.
00:05:06
Sabir Sultan
And so it was really, as I was looking at these two books, starting off with this question of like, why? Like, why go back? They're both like so prolific. I think combined, they probably have over 60 books.
00:05:19
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:20
Sabir Sultan
Yeah. And so that's sort of the bit of the question which I'll... animate the conversation? why are they returning to these books? How does it sort of factor into their evolving tastes as writers?
00:05:36
Sabir Sultan
They've moved in such different directions over the years across books that I sort of want to dig into that a bit.
00:05:39
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:05:45
Heather Roberts
Yeah, no, that's fascinating. I mean, we could have a whole conversation about that right now, but I'll save it for the festival.
00:05:50
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:05:53
Heather Roberts
ah Let's just get out there. When is the festival and where can people buy tickets?
00:05:58
Sabir Sultan
Perfect. So the festival is April 30th through May 3rd. And if you'd like to purchase a ticket, you can just go www.worldvoices.pen.org.
00:06:09
Heather Roberts
Okay, awesome. I wanted to make sure we got that in there while we're talking about it. So in the first few minutes, in case we lose any listeners later on, and now you know, now you can go buy tickets and go see.
00:06:20
Heather Roberts
I mean, you have an amazing author lineup coming up. I mean, yeah, no, it's really incredible.
00:06:24
Sabir Sultan
Thank you.
00:06:26
Heather Roberts
You have a lot of ah incredible authors. um What is, I'm not going to make you choose, but what is one that you're most excited about other than the one that you're moderating?
00:06:37
Sabir Sultan
Oh, that's like, I feel like it's Sophie's choice.
00:06:39
Heather Roberts
I know.
00:06:41
Sabir Sultan
Like...
00:06:41
Heather Roberts
mean, you could use a couple. Like what are, what are several that maybe you're most excited about this year?
00:06:43
Sabir Sultan
like
00:06:47
Sabir Sultan
Well, I'll say one, and I was actually just on a call with the authors earlier trying to plot out the conversation is towards a trans aesthetic, which is like looking at if there's a through line between like community and like the transgender community and the craft of these authors and like their aesthetic choices.
00:07:09
Sabir Sultan
And we have some legends on it, like ah Kate Bornstein, Jenny Finney Boylan, Meredith Talusan, Bishak Sohm, Oliver Radcliffe.
00:07:20
Sabir Sultan
So I'm really excited for that conversation. it'd say another one ah which has sort of captured my imagination the past couple months is Heartbeats and Heroines.
00:07:32
Sabir Sultan
It's a romance panel at The Strand.
00:07:34
Heather Roberts
a
00:07:35
Veronica Adams
No.
00:07:36
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, and it has Ali Hazelwood, Nisha Sharma, Priscilla Olivares, and then Katie Holt.
00:07:44
Heather Roberts
all great authors. Yeah. yeah
00:07:47
Sabir Sultan
I think like that one was fun because it started off with this... Have you heard of halal romances?
00:07:55
Heather Roberts
I don't know if I have.
00:07:55
Veronica Adams
no
00:07:58
Sabir Sultan
oh oh i like I have a friend who is super into them, and so she was sharing these books with me and we talking about how romance in these books is structured very differently.
00:08:11
Sabir Sultan
So sort of like in some ways, like related to like religious principles, but like the marks of the love story look different.
00:08:11
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:08:20
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:08:20
Sabir Sultan
And so it was done, and just sort of engendered this question for me of how does romance look different based on culture, based on faith and like, what are the markers in there?
00:08:29
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:08:29
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:08:32
Sabir Sultan
So I'm excited for this conversation to sort of dig into that a bit.
00:08:37
Veronica Adams
I'm going to have to go find one of these halal romances as soon as we're done recording because mind blown. i i didn't know they existed. And what a fascinating way to turn romance on its head, what we think of as a romance and blend it with a different culture, a different religious tradition, something that a lot of romance readers probably are not exposed to.
00:08:56
Veronica Adams
fascinating.
00:08:56
Sabir Sultan
right yeah it still has those sort of like same what i like understand to be the classic like hallmarks of romance the happy ending the sort of like empowering or i shouldn't say empowering but like sort of like celebrating women's like bodily autonomy and so yeah it just seems like ripe and rich
00:08:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. Thank
00:09:04
Veronica Adams
Sure.
00:09:17
Veronica Adams
I love it.
00:09:19
Heather Roberts
That's super fascinating. I too had never heard of that specific subgenre.
00:09:21
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:09:23
Heather Roberts
I've heard of a lot of subgenres of romance, but not that one.
00:09:26
Veronica Adams
Yes. Absolutely.
00:09:30
Heather Roberts
um No, that's that's really, really cool.
Sabir's Career Journey
00:09:33
Heather Roberts
ah what i have to ask, what drew you to the world of you know literary programming and events? How did you find yourself in your position?
00:09:44
Sabir Sultan
I think very luckily, I moved to New York and was ah paralegal and it was miserable.
00:09:48
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:09:53
Sabir Sultan
have never hated anything more. And so like I quit that.
00:09:58
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:09:58
Sabir Sultan
And then quit at a bad time and couldn't find another job. like Ended up at Barnes & Noble. And then it just sort of like migrated from there. Like I started working in events there then moved to a different Barnes and Noble and did events and then the Strand.
00:10:14
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:10:14
Sabir Sultan
And then I didn't know festival director was a job until someone at Penn told me it had posted.
00:10:20
Sabir Sultan
was like, what? You pay someone to do this? It's like I'm getting away with something. Yeah.
00:10:25
Heather Roberts
Right? I know. i know. We feel that way a lot, though, too. It's like we we joke that our worst day on with with our job is still better than lawyering, like any day lawyering.
00:10:29
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:10:37
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:10:37
Sabir Sultan
yeah
00:10:37
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:10:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:10:38
Veronica Adams
As disaffected legal professionals ourselves, that is something that we both feel very fortunate to no longer have to be putting up with.
00:10:39
Sabir Sultan
Right?
00:10:47
Veronica Adams
like
00:10:50
Heather Roberts
Yeah, i mean, some of some of the tasks that we have to do at our current job, we're just like, how is this our job? Like, how is this something that I'm getting paid to do? Like, you know, it's wild.
00:11:02
Sabir Sultan
i
00:11:03
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:11:04
Heather Roberts
It's absolutely wild. Getting to talk with amazing people, getting to you know, chat with incredible authors. Yeah, it doesn't feel like work half the time, which is...
00:11:12
Veronica Adams
yeah Getting to be surrounded by books, getting to read and ah its any job that requires you to read.
00:11:15
Sabir Sultan
Oh yes.
00:11:15
Heather Roberts
Yeah. I know.
00:11:20
Veronica Adams
Lawyering also required us to read. I'm sure being a paralegal required you to read a considerable amount too, but there's a big difference between case law and briefs and the general world of both fiction and nonfiction writing, right?
00:11:29
Sabir Sultan
Yes.
00:11:32
Veronica Adams
So... Yeah.
00:11:34
Heather Roberts
100%.
00:11:34
Sabir Sultan
Oh yeah.
00:11:35
Veronica Adams
Living the dream now.
00:11:36
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:11:36
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:11:36
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:11:37
Sabir Sultan
Right. Nothing is exciting about a contract.
00:11:39
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:11:39
Sabir Sultan
Like nothing is exciting about a contract. Give me any book. like
00:11:43
Veronica Adams
ah absolutely yes
00:11:45
Heather Roberts
your side for that, for sure.
00:11:46
Sabir Sultan
yeah
00:11:47
Heather Roberts
ah we are on your side for that for sure um What would you say has been something, you know, have you just, did you just take the template from past years and are trying to implement that? Or have you tried to craft anything new um as being the director of the festival now?
00:12:06
Sabir Sultan
yeah i think one of the goals, and I think we're still like working towards accomplishing this, is making it more like multi-format, more multi-genre.
00:12:18
Sabir Sultan
Genre is the wrong word there. But I think having events that are across like artistic disciplines.
00:12:26
Heather Roberts
awesome
00:12:26
Sabir Sultan
So one of the cooler events, or I shouldn't say cooler, but one of the cool events we have is with ah this like Afghani muralist group, Art Lords, And so they're going to be in Union Square creating like a public mural that people can just like walk up and start to paint with them.
00:12:45
Sabir Sultan
like They have it sort of sketched out, but it it's going to be really exciting. So I feel like that's a fun addition. Yeah.
00:12:53
Heather Roberts
No, that's really cool.
00:12:53
Sabir Sultan
and
00:12:55
Heather Roberts
It's almost like how do you narrow it down, right? Like I bet you have so many things, so many ideas that you could do that it's got to be pretty challenging to narrow that down.
00:13:06
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, well, we sort of like approach curation with like author first. So we'll start sending invites out to just like authors that are exciting or interesting or whose books we've read and liked.
00:13:11
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:13:20
Sabir Sultan
And then as it starts to come together, there are sort of like innate groupings that form and like commonalities and themes across books. And then there are some where it's like, I just, I have this idea. i want to make this event happen.
00:13:35
Sabir Sultan
And so like I'll start like curating directly towards that.
00:13:39
Heather Roberts
No, that's very cool. That's very cool. I sit on of a tiny festival up here in Vermont, the board of a tiny festival.
00:13:42
Sabir Sultan
Oh.
00:13:46
Sabir Sultan
Oh.
00:13:47
Heather Roberts
It's called the Green Mountain Book Festival. um
00:13:50
Sabir Sultan
oh
00:13:50
Heather Roberts
And we actually were doing a speaker series over the next a year instead of an actual festival. just be you know Arts and humanities funding is not what it wass was once was.
00:14:01
Heather Roberts
um So we're sort of trying to figure out the best way to you know share humanity people the community um in the most sort of economical way possible, right? And to to highlight literacy and all of that. But we even find as, you know, we're planning festivals and, you know, in this small space that we have, like, it's just, it's very challenging to narrow down what you want to highlight because there's so many amazing authors.
00:14:28
Heather Roberts
There's so many different panels that you could do. so many genres that you could focus on. It's so, I can only imagine in a place like New York, how much of a task that is to really pull together something that, you know, has notes of everything, but also is cohesive, you know?
00:14:47
Sabir Sultan
no I hear you, but I will say being in New York makes it much easier. There are so many writers who live here.
00:14:52
Heather Roberts
imagine.
00:14:55
Sabir Sultan
like And because people always, or authors always start off their book tours in New York, too, there's a good like timing makes my life easier, too, I'd say.
00:15:02
Veronica Adams
Sure.
00:15:02
Heather Roberts
go
00:15:06
Heather Roberts
Yeah, that's true. Do you guys um have partners at all with ah the independent bookstores in New York? Like how does that work?
00:15:14
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, so, i mean, I come from, like, an independent bookstore.
00:15:17
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:15:17
Sabir Sultan
i do not buy anything on Amazon, so all we do is partner with independent bookstores. Like, ah this...
00:15:23
Heather Roberts
and it's all
00:15:25
Sabir Sultan
Oh, I'm sorry.
00:15:26
Heather Roberts
No, I just said that's awesome.
00:15:28
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, I'm excited. Like, we have events with The Strand, Poseman's Books, McNally Jackson, The Center for Fiction.
00:15:33
Heather Roberts
Thanks.
00:15:37
Sabir Sultan
all of the, like, New York indies. It's exciting to bring them in and to, like, be able to work with them.
00:15:45
Heather Roberts
and That's really cool. It's almost like a celebration of publishing and literacy in New York City. i mean, there's there's so many events happening in New York, like all the time.
00:15:57
Heather Roberts
How do you guys narrow down what, you know, do you consider other dates or do you just decide this is when we're doing it?
00:15:57
Sabir Sultan
yeah
00:16:05
Heather Roberts
And do you do it at the same time every year? do you just pick dates? How does that process work for you guys? Yeah.
00:16:12
Sabir Sultan
So it's tricky. There's like this actual festival circuit of dates. And so normally, until this year, we've been typically Mother's Day weekend. So like the Wednesday through Saturday.
00:16:27
Sabir Sultan
And then an Australian festival moved its dates. And there are like three festivals in Australia back to back. So authors will just go on tour to them.
00:16:39
Sabir Sultan
and so this year we tried moving a week back. And I have regrets. I think that weekend was better. Like it's curious, since so many writers are teachers and professors, this like period of time has meant that like we're running up against a lot of their like final schedules.
00:16:52
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:16:59
Heather Roberts
Oh.
00:16:59
Sabir Sultan
So I think it's still an evolving question of like when it'll officially land, but like, oh, the Australian festivals. wow
00:17:10
Heather Roberts
No, it's it's valid because there's always, i mean, when when we were trying to choose stuff up here, ah like I said, much smaller scale, but even we were struggling. So I cannot even, I'm thinking of how in a place like New York City that even can come together in a way, you just sort of have to pick a date and stick, which obviously you've done.
00:17:30
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:17:31
Heather Roberts
But I mean, there's always so much going on in New York City. But it also provides you, like you said, so many more opportunities because there's so many authors there and you just have the the places and the people to partner with to really make it a cool success.
00:17:48
Heather Roberts
um And there's so many more people who can attend. Yeah.
00:17:53
Sabir Sultan
That does help.
00:17:55
Heather Roberts
that's us how That does help. That does. How do you select which voices and themes to feature
Focus on Free Expression and Censorship
00:18:02
Heather Roberts
each year? do you have like a committee? do you, or is it like when people submit?
00:18:04
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:18:07
Sabir Sultan
oh So we'll have people reach out and submit. And I'll probably starting in the fall, i'll do publisher meetings to sort of ask publishers what they have coming out, both in the spring, but any authors they want to highlight.
00:18:23
Sabir Sultan
And then we collect a lot of PDFs. and me And we have three other curators who work on the festival. Louise Steinman, who oversees our l LA curation.
00:18:35
Sabir Sultan
Andy Tepper, who helps with New York. And then my colleague, Sarah Dillard. We just sort of read the books. We come up with ideas. We meet weekly. We talk about them. We talk about what's interesting.
00:18:46
Sabir Sultan
Because it's pen, there's always an element of... what free expression events how are we talking about censorship and the repression of writers so it becomes there's always that sort of vertical within the festival but outside of that there's a lot of room to play it's it's really fun
00:19:07
Heather Roberts
no That's awesome. It's a dream job.
00:19:10
Sabir Sultan
It really is. Like sometimes I'm just like, I love this author. Like, uh, I think my first festival, Ben Oakry, we were able to get. And just since I was a kid, I was obsessed with it. My parents wouldn't let me read his book. It would just like sat on the shelf.
00:19:25
Sabir Sultan
They were like, it's too adult for you. And then got to have an event with him. it was sort of insane.
00:19:33
Heather Roberts
Full circle moment there.
00:19:34
Sabir Sultan
Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:35
Heather Roberts
um No, that's so cool. What do you hope that ah ah those that attend the festival, you know, that they take away? Like, what what do you hope that they get from any of the panels?
00:19:49
Sabir Sultan
oh i think like a range of things and a range in the sense of like what we all get out of books like excitement adventure like an expanded sense of self an expanded sense of possibility think i want people to have an experience i want them to like in not only be able to have fun, but to also leave thinking more broadly.
00:20:14
Sabir Sultan
And of course, at a basic level, be aware of more international authors. I think that's one of our like fundamental missions to the festival is to introduce international authors to American audiences.
00:20:28
Heather Roberts
it is a world voices festival after all.
00:20:30
Sabir Sultan
Yes.
00:20:31
Heather Roberts
That is sort of the point. Uh, at least I would hope, but no, that's, I think that's really important too. And, and, you know, the times of today, as where oftentimes we hear in the news where it's you know very American insular thoughts and feelings that, you know, there is a world out there and we need to connect with them.
00:20:47
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:20:51
Heather Roberts
And, uh, You know, doing so through books is a wonderful way to do that, whether through fiction or nonfiction. But you looked like you had something to say, Veronica, did I cut you off?
00:21:02
Veronica Adams
well no, not at all. I was just going to interject when the opportunity arose and ask, ah in what ways can ah festival guests and attendees expect to see sort of the the vertical present in the programming this year?
00:21:17
Veronica Adams
You know, PEN America's commitment to free expression and, you know, ah their fight against censorship. You know, what in what ways is that going to be part of the panels or the programming that that's taking place this year?
00:21:29
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, so I would say on our opening night, and this is an event I'm super pumped for, we have Disappearing Acts Censorship in American Theater.
00:21:34
Heather Roberts
Thank you.
00:21:39
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:21:39
Sabir Sultan
And so it's like with Lynn Nottage, Carlisle Brown, Moises Kaufman, and Lisa Krohn. And this was something Lynn actually brought to us.
00:21:51
Sabir Sultan
And it'll be such a, I think it's like a fun and interesting event in the sense that we don't often talk about censorship in theater and the ways that like high schools and colleges will like edit texts based on like local governments, the way it's often used to sort of silence LGBTQIA plus voices and like histories that,
00:22:10
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:22:15
Sabir Sultan
or real, but like now politicized in a way.
00:22:18
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:22:19
Sabir Sultan
Yeah. And so that event I'm really excited for. I'd say another one in that vertical would be our closing night event, which will be moderated by our current co-CEO, Summer Lopez.
00:22:31
Sabir Sultan
And it's ah about journalism under siege and the way sort of government attacks on journalists give license to these other actors, whether that's like troll farms online or bots online to just sort of attack these journalists.
00:22:49
Sabir Sultan
And that one i think is part of the reason I'm excited is we have Rana Ayyub, who's a Washington Post ah opinion writer, but has written a lot about the Indian government in ways that have somewhat endangered her. And we also have the writer Patricia Evangelista, who will be joining us virtually for that event.
00:23:12
Sabir Sultan
And she wrote a book last year called, oh, the title is escaping me. But she was sort of chronicling Duterte's government in the Philippines, war on drugs, and the way so many innocent people were swept up in that.
00:23:23
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yeah.
00:23:29
Sabir Sultan
And so that feels like a conversation which seems particularly relevant in this moment where we see that news organizations have been like sued by Trump or the Trump administration in the past year and like what it means for journalists to report the truth in an environment that is increasingly hostile to them.
00:23:40
Veronica Adams
yes
00:23:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. That makes total sense. And that's pretty fascinating topics and and panels that you're going to be having. I wish I lived in new York.
00:23:59
Sabir Sultan
yeah
00:24:01
Heather Roberts
Thank you.
00:24:02
Sabir Sultan
We'll post them all after, or not all of them. I would say like about a third, a couple of months after the festival on YouTube. Like with, yeah, our hope is really to just expose people to these writers.
00:24:11
Veronica Adams
Excellent.
00:24:18
Sabir Sultan
The tickets are always low cost. So like under $20 over half of the events are free. We just really want people to come and like celebrate writing and celebrate reading and have fun with each other.
00:24:32
Heather Roberts
That's amazing. Let's say What else can I ask you now that I have you here?
00:24:40
Heather Roberts
um What advice would you give to emerging writers, authors looking to engage you know with these types of events?
00:24:50
Sabir Sultan
Oh, I mean, on a basic level, I'd say reach out. And there's also, we have ah team at Penn, which I actually think you emailed or interviewed my colleague, Sabrina Beda.
00:25:04
Heather Roberts
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:04
Veronica Adams
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:04
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:25:05
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:25:06
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, and they work on like book banning. So if authors are being affected in that way, they can always reach out to the Freedom to Read team. They do incredible work. They also, I believe, work with authors against book bans and this wider coalition.
00:25:20
Sabir Sultan
And then depending on what the authors are dealing with... or depending on their interests, I think there are a wide variety of intersection points. We have these fantastic writing programs at Penn, Dreaming Out Loud, which is focused on migrant writers, immigrant writers, and then Emerging Voices, which is an online fellowship which links up emerging writers with more established writers to get mentorship.
00:25:48
Sabir Sultan
And like all of these programs are free. Writers are paid to take part in them. we really feel like writing in itself is work it should be compensated accordingly so that's even our approach to fellowships
00:26:00
Heather Roberts
That's fantastic. I mean, that's amazing. I'm constantly surprised, pleasantly so, with all of the offerings that PEN America has. I mean, you guys do so much work within advocacy, within the industry, um as well as putting on events like this and having those programs for writers.
00:26:16
Sabir Sultan
hmm
00:26:21
Heather Roberts
um It's just... constant. You guys are such a powerhouse. um
00:26:27
Sabir Sultan
Thank you.
00:26:27
Heather Roberts
and You know, I'm surprised in a good way. Every time I hear about a new program that comes up.
00:26:35
Sabir Sultan
There's like this great effect of I get to come into a workplace where I think everyone around me is just doing good, which is like nice.
00:26:42
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:45
Sabir Sultan
I've been in other workplaces, including retail. i said Different dynamics.
00:26:50
Heather Roberts
Very different dynamic.
00:26:52
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:26:53
Heather Roberts
right
00:26:56
Heather Roberts
Oh my gosh. Are there any, um let's see, are there any trends in the literary world, you know, publishing or ah reader engagement and anything that you can think of that excite you or concern you right now?
Literary Trends and Preferences
00:27:12
Sabir Sultan
So this will be a sort of like personal note, but I think novels are getting too small.
00:27:17
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:27:20
Sabir Sultan
Like everything's like 120 pages. And sometimes I just want to sink into a book, like spend a week, a weekend, just like lost in some tome.
00:27:31
Sabir Sultan
ah a well-written, exciting, fun tome. But like...
00:27:34
Heather Roberts
like
00:27:35
Sabir Sultan
Yeah!
00:27:35
Heather Roberts
This is why you like fantasy though. Cause we were talking ah ah before the episode started about our favorite genres and you mentioned fantasy is one of yours.
00:27:38
Sabir Sultan
oh You can't.
00:27:45
Heather Roberts
And that's why it's the getting lost in
00:27:46
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:27:48
Heather Roberts
You can't do a fantasy in 120 pages. Yeah.
00:27:50
Veronica Adams
That's right.
00:27:51
Sabir Sultan
you can
00:27:51
Veronica Adams
World building is 100,000 words every time.
00:27:55
Sabir Sultan
every time. But that's also the like fun of it You get to like inhabit this entire universe that has been thought of with its own mythologies and magic systems.
00:28:06
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:28:06
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:28:07
Heather Roberts
Do you find that you're more of a mood reader or do you, do you read in a different way?
00:28:13
Sabir Sultan
I would say When like I'm outside of that like festival reading period, it's so based on impulse. like I am a book hoarder.
00:28:24
Sabir Sultan
These like shelves extend all around my apartment. I will buy books just because I'm like, I'm going to want to read that one day. And that day may be like three years later.
00:28:32
Heather Roberts
ye
00:28:34
Sabir Sultan
So yeah, it's very much like I'm just going to try this or the universe is telling me. I like dip into like my soothsayer mode and just like feel the universe guide me towards books sometimes.
00:28:48
Veronica Adams
I love that the energy is leading you to this title at this time. And that's just the experience.
00:28:54
Sabir Sultan
Yeah, and it's the like right book at the right moment so often.
00:28:59
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:29:00
Heather Roberts
Well, and people often say that book buying and reading are two completely separate hobbies. And I thousand percent agree with that statement because they are.
00:29:06
Sabir Sultan
right
00:29:08
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:29:12
Veronica Adams
This is very true.
00:29:14
Heather Roberts
know, because sometimes you're good to just, you're just drawn to, you know, that book for whatever reason, you just want to hold it and feel it and maybe one day read the content.
00:29:24
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:29:29
Heather Roberts
oh man um Oh, What other than fantasy are you super into right now?
00:29:36
Sabir Sultan
Oh, poetry. i love poetry. Like, I would say there have been like some great collections I've read this year. Dunya McHale's like tablets of clay.
00:29:48
Sabir Sultan
And she's actually in the festival at a couple of events, and which is another thing when I read a i'm like book I like, I'm just like, how do I get that author?
00:29:51
Veronica Adams
Awesome.
00:29:52
Heather Roberts
Of
00:29:56
Sabir Sultan
Like,
00:29:57
Heather Roberts
course.
00:29:57
Sabir Sultan
ah Yeah. And then, oh, Marie Howe, I've been going back and rereading. She has this book, What the Living Do, which is sort of, it's a heavy collection, a lot about grief, but like the poems are so lovely.
00:30:16
Sabir Sultan
They're just like so well written so personal and immediate. Like, yeah. So like poetry is also occurring a bunch this year.
00:30:26
Veronica Adams
I love that.
00:30:26
Heather Roberts
That's really cool. Yeah. Do you have a question, Veronica? No.
00:30:31
Veronica Adams
No, oh no, not this time. i was just.
00:30:32
Heather Roberts
Okay. Not this time. that i mean To that end, I have another one. um You were just mentioned a couple of authors that you know you have and writers that you personally read.
00:30:44
Heather Roberts
Who would you say are some of the under-the-radar writers or voices that you think more people should be reading right now?
00:30:52
Sabir Sultan
Oh, that is a fun question. oh let's see, I would say, The French author, Edward Louis, I went through like a phase with him last summer where he's just kind of obsessed.
00:31:08
Sabir Sultan
It's a lot of, it's four books, sort of auto fiction, some are memoirs where he's talking about his sort of rural upbringing in France and this sort of toxic masculine culture, the way it like impacts his own coming to terms with his queerness and his gay identity.
00:31:30
Sabir Sultan
And then it's also layered with this sort of, I would say his later books are layered with this political analysis about the like sort of like social structures, which like force this like overly hyper masculine culture on these like working class people in France.
00:31:51
Sabir Sultan
And so that was fantastic. I've been obsessed with him. And then I think I read a lot of, oh, sorry.
00:31:58
Heather Roberts
No, no, go ahead. What would you say? What were you saying?
00:32:00
Sabir Sultan
Oh, it was going to say, I tend to read a lot of like popular authors, so I feel like my recommendations would like overlap with several people, but I'd say Sayaka Murata, the Japanese writer, she's fantastic. Her stories are like strange and funny.
00:32:19
Sabir Sultan
um I don't know if they would count as under the radar, but Adam Haslett, he just had a book come out this year, Mothers and Sons, which I think his last book was maybe a decade ago, but it's a story of this like man who's an immigration lawyer sort of like struggling this repressed memory
00:32:30
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:32:42
Sabir Sultan
this like press memory of kind of his first gay romance like ending in someone dying. and like he thinks his like mother is aware of like the impact and like effect of it on him.
00:32:57
Sabir Sultan
And so their relationship is strained. They haven't been talking. And like meanwhile, his mother has like set up this all women retreat for sort of like spiritual cleansing.
00:33:09
Sabir Sultan
but it's just like this really good novel, like funny in parts. sad it has that entire dimension of the things we don't say to each other that just become part of our personal narratives yeah so sorry i could go i love reading
00:33:19
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:33:25
Heather Roberts
No, it sounds amazing. Yeah. I'm getting some recommendations.
00:33:29
Veronica Adams
I'm taking notes right now. Like...
00:33:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Book Recommendations and Festival Excitement
00:33:34
Heather Roberts
No, we we get ah you know, we work so much in the romance industry that oftentimes I don't look outside the industry to see, you know, what else is trending or other recommendations of titles that I should really dive into. So I'd love getting, you know, new recommendations and those sound amazing.
00:33:54
Sabir Sultan
one I might turn that question back on you then. What would you both recommend as like under the radar romance authors? Do you think I should try?
00:34:04
Heather Roberts
Oh, this is hard.
00:34:05
Veronica Adams
Under the radar.
00:34:08
Heather Roberts
Yeah, I know.
00:34:10
Veronica Adams
Oh, gosh. Well, and and now knowing about your special interest in fantasy generally, there is so much romanticy out there that is a nice blend of your already engaged interest and romance at the same time.
00:34:16
Sabir Sultan
Hmm.
00:34:25
Veronica Adams
Gosh. Oh, Heather, where do we start?
00:34:26
Heather Roberts
Let me think of it. I know. Well, You have the, these are not under the radar. These are massive names. Obviously, Sarah J.
00:34:34
Veronica Adams
Yes, of course.
00:34:35
Heather Roberts
Maas. You have Sarah J. Maas. And then, you you know, Rebecca Yeros with the fourth wing and ah all of that.
00:34:39
Sabir Sultan
Oh.
00:34:42
Heather Roberts
um She's only on book three, though. So book, you know, we're we're in the middle of a series. So if you're picking it up, know that.
00:34:47
Sabir Sultan
well
00:34:49
Heather Roberts
There's cliffhangers. Yeah. It's going to be a time, um but she can take all the time that she wants. It's fine. It's fine. um But I actually did just read a fantasy or romanticy somewhat recently um that I thought was really quite fantastic. And I'm trying to remember the name of it.
00:35:13
Heather Roberts
um So I'm trying, I'm looking it up right now. But Who else do say? Jennifer Armentrout. I don't know if you're familiar with her. Also not really under the radar. She's very popular in romance, but outside of romance, I don't know how much others would know, but she has some incredible series that um I think you would really enjoy. One of my favorites. ah Let's go, Jennifer.
00:35:40
Heather Roberts
Armentrout. I'm trying to remember the name of the first book. I just remember vibes. Yeah. And what the story's about, I don't always remember the title, ah which is not the best, ah you know, thing.
00:35:46
Sabir Sultan
That happens.
00:35:50
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:35:55
Heather Roberts
Half-Blood. Half-Blood is the first name of the first book. It's ah the Covenant series is what it's called. And it starts out a little bit with a 17-year-old. And she, you and she you know She it's about how I mean, I don't want to give it away, but there's, you know, people that have been descended from gods and mortals.
00:36:20
Heather Roberts
And then there's pure bloods, there's half bloods.
00:36:22
Sabir Sultan
Thank you.
00:36:25
Heather Roberts
And there's obviously elements, you know, that you can probably surmise of some discrimination amongst people. that sort of grouping, um, people can, you know, fall in love with the other, you know, kind.
00:36:40
Heather Roberts
And then obviously, or maybe not so obviously, but there is, uh, that, that ah full blood and half blood do, you know, want to be together. And what does that look like? And then there's additional, you know, powers, uh, uh,
00:36:55
Heather Roberts
that are happening about, you know i don't wanna give too much away about, you know there's push and pull within the politics
00:36:59
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:37:03
Heather Roberts
um of the world in which she had built. And the, obviously the main character takes out a large role in that. And it's just, there's a lot of action. So if you like action along with romance, it's not just about the romantic story between the two main characters. obviously That is part of it. It is a romance, um but it is specifically also about the world and the politics within the world and how that's all,
00:37:32
Heather Roberts
you know, going to, you know, shake out one of my favorite series.
00:37:33
Sabir Sultan
oh
00:37:37
Heather Roberts
It's not, it's not a new series. It came out in October, 2011, but a really, I think compelling series.
00:37:47
Sabir Sultan
oh i think you've sold me half blood jennifer armandrout i will remember this i will pick this up
00:37:50
Heather Roberts
yeah You should pick it up. It's fantastic. ah Veronica, do you have one while I'm trying to find this other one that I can't remember?
00:37:59
Veronica Adams
Oh, well, but so as you were talking, I was thinking less about romanticcy and romance and more about women's fiction and the the paranormal women's fiction and how it sort of has become its own little subgenre within paranormal romance and or fantasy, urban fantasy, if you will.
00:38:07
Sabir Sultan
Hmm.
00:38:16
Veronica Adams
um And the concept is just women who hit midlife and the the potential for the romantic story arc sort of ends, right? With their their fertility drying up and menopause and all of that stuff, right?
00:38:29
Veronica Adams
And so it's women entering this magical time in their lives where they're no longer just mothers and wives and nurturers and caretakers, but they are witches and vampires and you know they kick butt and they are out here maybe in some series having a liaison with a fellow witch or wizard and there is a romantic subplot, but it's really more about the empowerment and ah the world building and the magic and all of that. And the first thing that came to mind was K.F. Breen's leveling up series.
00:39:01
Veronica Adams
It's just sort of like the anchor of that sub-sub-genre, if you will. um And there are several other authors who've written it very well, but hers is the first that comes to mind, so
00:39:12
Sabir Sultan
Oh, I will look her up That sounds great.
00:39:16
Veronica Adams
yeah heather did you think of the other one that that was escaping you yes
00:39:17
Sabir Sultan
Yeah.
00:39:20
Heather Roberts
Yes, hold on. Here she is. There it is. It's Stacia Stark. And I was messing with her, messing up her last name.
00:39:29
Veronica Adams
oh
00:39:31
Heather Roberts
A Court This Cruel and Lovely is book
00:39:33
Veronica Adams
yes
00:39:35
Heather Roberts
And she's not as well known as some of the other, you know, bigger romanticcy authors. um But I was hooked on this series. And this is one that really, every book is very long.
00:39:49
Heather Roberts
Um, so I've already hooked you.
00:39:50
Sabir Sultan
I'm not.
00:39:51
Heather Roberts
Um, and it's just, it's really good. Um, there's, there's war involved. Um, there's, you know, i she dreams about a man in her, you know, in her dreams. And then eventually she comes into contact with him without realizing at first that this is the person from her dream.
00:40:14
Heather Roberts
Um, there's a lot of, you know, what you would think in world building and in fantasy, all of those elements are there um with ah people trying to, you know, it's dystopian in in that way, you know, the trying to overturn right. A terrible government and a terrible system that has been put into place.
00:40:37
Heather Roberts
And ah yeah, it's just two unlikely people that get together and fall in love and, It is a slow burn series. At first, they don't really love each other.
00:40:49
Heather Roberts
So enemies lovers. But then that changes over time ah and as it does.
00:40:55
Sabir Sultan
Hmm. Hmm.
00:40:57
Heather Roberts
And it's just it's really, really good. It's got a really strong heroine. um she She kicks ass and I was really inspired by her. And I didn't feel, you know, she's not one of those damsel in distress type situations. She's like, I'm just going to it myself if you're not going to help me.
00:41:16
Heather Roberts
um
00:41:16
Sabir Sultan
fun
00:41:17
Heather Roberts
And it yeah, it's just really great. So I absolutely loved that series. A Court This Cruel and Lovely. I thought about it for a long time after i finished reading it. And obviously it still sticks in my brain. I just can't always remember the titles.
00:41:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:41:32
Veronica Adams
It's always the mark of a great read, though, when you stay stuck in the world long after you've closed the book or finished the last page. It's just it stays with you. i love that.
00:41:41
Heather Roberts
yeah would say the one thing about romance that is maybe different than some of the, I don't know, so other genres, but i have we have books in romance that I like call mind erasers.
00:41:55
Heather Roberts
And they are just there for entertainment purposes only, right?
00:41:56
Sabir Sultan
Hmm. Hmm.
00:41:59
Heather Roberts
You're not really going to be presented with any strong opinions or any strong anything. You're there for pure entertainment, and it's just to erase my mind. Just to let me let me enjoy this story and how it plays out.
00:42:17
Heather Roberts
And I tend to read a lot of those when world is in chaos and crisis. So those I'm not necessarily recommending, but I could if that's what you're looking for.
00:42:30
Sabir Sultan
yeah I mean, I love it concept-wise. Like, a mind eraser sounds beautiful. Sometimes you just need to, like, dip out of the world.
00:42:38
Heather Roberts
Yeah. And it's not like these books are bad. i don't mean to say it like that. They're just not memorable in the sense that you're going to be thinking about them for for you know months and months and months at a time.
00:42:48
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:42:49
Veronica Adams
Yeah, they're they're not love stories that are also social commentary or political commentary and cultural commentary in any particular way. They're just ah an escape into the idea of two people who fall in love and live happily ever after in some way.
00:43:04
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:43:05
Sabir Sultan
That sounds wonderful.
00:43:05
Heather Roberts
oh I mean, if we're talking about one of my, you know, favorite authors who personal personal favorite authors, Catherine Cowles, I absolutely love her.
00:43:16
Heather Roberts
She writes amazing small town romantic suspense. And for our listeners, they all know that that is my jam. ah That's my personal jam. So...
00:43:28
Heather Roberts
Excuse me. Yeah, just really great stories. um I couldn't really tell you all of the characters in all of the stories. I've read them all. If I started reading them again, I would remember it.
00:43:40
Heather Roberts
um But I just remember how they make me feel. And that isn't at the point of a good book, right?
00:43:48
Sabir Sultan
Oh, 100%. That's it exactly.
00:43:51
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:43:51
Sabir Sultan
Like, until I started working at bookstores, I did not remember book titles or authors. it was just like, oh, the vibes, the like the way this just like captured me.
00:44:01
Sabir Sultan
Oh,
00:44:02
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, and obviously I remember titles on books I'm actually working on. ah
00:44:08
Sabir Sultan
fair. Yes. Yeah.
00:44:09
Heather Roberts
and
00:44:11
Sabir Sultan
yeah
00:44:12
Heather Roberts
Stuff that i read for pleasure. You know, yeah my husband will be like, what are you reading? And I'm like, honestly, I don't know. Hold on like i could look and
00:44:23
Heather Roberts
on. Yeah. Don't always, don't always look at that. It's just, yeah, it's vibes and how you feel and all of that. But yeah. I love that about books. And I also love that there's, it seems like there's an endless supply, right?
00:44:36
Heather Roberts
there's There's no way that we can ever read all the books that are in existence. It's just not. Yeah.
00:44:44
Sabir Sultan
There's no way, and there are new books every Tuesday. Like Tuesdays are magical.
00:44:49
Veronica Adams
It's the best day of the week, is it not?
00:44:51
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:44:52
Sabir Sultan
we're like
00:44:54
Heather Roberts
Well, and in indie world, there's, there could be new books every day. i mean, you add in all the indie authors. It's yeah. Yeah. even more. It's crazy. So no, that's that's really, really, really cool.
00:45:07
Heather Roberts
Okay. I will end it on one question. One question left. What, what behind the scenes moment or something from organizing the event that was maybe unexpectedly magical to you?
00:45:25
Sabir Sultan
I mean, to I don't know if this quite qualifies, but like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie saying yes.
00:45:29
Heather Roberts
right. um
00:45:33
Sabir Sultan
why Like when we invited her to the festival. I mean, like she's done stuff with Penn before, and I think before I started there, but like she is an author who is so incredible. Like it just, it was mind blowing that she said yes.
00:45:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah, that's amazing.
00:45:50
Sabir Sultan
Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:51
Heather Roberts
That's amazing. I love that.
00:45:53
Veronica Adams
you just float on cloud nine after that happens.
00:45:55
Sabir Sultan
Right? now and And then I think the moment I'll actually just like leave my body is like on the event when I get to meet her. And then like I don't know what will be happening, but I won't be here.
00:46:06
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:46:06
Sabir Sultan
My body will be.
00:46:08
Heather Roberts
Your body will be, but you will not be here. You'll have to make sure to get a couple of photos so that you can look back and be like, no, that actually happened.
00:46:18
Sabir Sultan
I always get like too self-conscious to take photos with authors. The only exception was like Dorinda Medley from The Real Housewives of New York, if either of you want to.
00:46:28
Sabir Sultan
Where i was like, i have to.
00:46:29
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yes.
00:46:29
Sabir Sultan
look
00:46:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. but You should have somebody like following behind you, taking candid. So that way.
00:46:36
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:46:36
Heather Roberts
and
00:46:36
Veronica Adams
Enlist a trusted friend or, you know, ah an ah ah an associate from Pan America to just follow you around and like, you know, snap those shots you're too afraid to ask for.
00:46:45
Sabir Sultan
oh oh You're right. This is what I'm going to do. Maybe we cut this part out in case she's listening.
00:46:51
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:46:52
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:46:52
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:46:52
Sabir Sultan
Yes. Oh,
00:46:53
Heather Roberts
And someone from the marketing department, because that's like, you know, straight marketing gold right there.
00:46:57
Veronica Adams
Perfect.
00:46:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:00
Sabir Sultan
yeah. no I love this. I have strategies in place.
00:47:02
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:47:03
Sabir Sultan
I'm going to get that photo.
00:47:03
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:47:04
Heather Roberts
That was great.
00:47:05
Sabir Sultan
Hmm. Hmm.
00:47:07
Heather Roberts
Well, Sabir, you have been an absolute pleasure. We were so happy.
00:47:10
Veronica Adams
Yes, thank you so much for coming.
00:47:12
Heather Roberts
Yeah. So happy to have you.
00:47:13
Sabir Sultan
Hmm.
00:47:14
Heather Roberts
Can you tell everybody again, when is the festival of all and the website again?
00:47:20
Sabir Sultan
ah The festival is going to be Wednesday, April 30th through Saturday, May 3rd. You can get tickets or register for events at worldvoices.pen.org.
00:47:31
Sabir Sultan
And Heather and Veronica, this has been so much fun. Like, really, it's been such a pleasure.
00:47:34
Heather Roberts
um got
00:47:35
Sabir Sultan
Thank you for having me.
00:47:37
Veronica Adams
Our pleasure.
00:47:37
Heather Roberts
You are so welcome.
00:47:38
Veronica Adams
Thank you so much. Yes.
00:47:39
Heather Roberts
Thank you so much.
00:47:41
Sabir Sultan
Thank
00:47:48
Sabir Sultan
you.