Pamuk, Rushdie & others reading for Burma: 9/23

More news about PEN America 9 very soon. In the meantime, if you're in the NYC area, please join us at this PEN-sponsored fundraiser for cyclone relief in Burma, which will focus on dissident writers and activists in the country.


A year ago, thousands of Buddhist monks protested Burma's military dictatorship. Twenty years ago, millions of ordinary civilians held pro-democracy protests. In order to raise awareness of the situation in Burma-- and money for victims of the recent cyclone-- PEN is holding a benefit at Cooper Union on September 23rd, at 7 pm, co-sponsored by The Burma Project of OSI, The New York Review of Books, and Cooper Union.

Kiran Desai, Siri Hustvedt, Joseph Lelyveld, Orhan Pamuk, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Salman Rushdie, and special guests will read work by suppressed writers from Burma/Myanmar, and George Packer will speak with the Venerable Ashin Gawsita, leader of the 2007 Monks’ Uprising.

All proceeds of this benefit will be donated to the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO), a network of Burmese Buddhist monks collecting relief aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Audience members can purchase a $100 ticket, which includes a post-event reception, or $20 and $15 tickets at www.smarttix.com.

Reading Burma:

A Benefit for Cyclone Relief

and Freedom of Expression in Burma/MyanmarSeptember 23, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

The Great Hall at Cooper Union

7 East 7^th Street

Subway: 6 to Astor Place; N/R/W to 8^th Street-NYU

$20 (general admission) and $100 (includes post-event reception)

$15 for students and PEN members (with valid ID)

Tickets: www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444

(The photo above, of the Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai, lying wounded before a Burmese soldier as troops attack protesters, is from Reuters. Mr. Nagai later died.)