Crafting The City (PEN American 2026 World Voices Festival)

Cities live in our imaginations as sites of possibility. Self-transformation, unexpected encounters, and unforeseen opportunities are all within reach.

In the novels of Amanda Lee Koe (Sister Snake), Sam Sussman (Boy From the North Country), and Gary Shteyngart (Vera, or Faith), cities are characters in their own right. In Koe’s retelling of the Chinese folktale “The Legend of the White Snake,” two sisters who are ancient snakes in human form navigate the constrictions and freedoms of Singapore and New York City. Sussman’s protagonist is drawn into his mother’s stories of late nights with Bob Dylan in her third-floor Manhattan walk-up. In Vera, or Faith, as the rest of the United States devolves into an authoritarian state, New York City struggles to remain a sanctuary of liberal values.

In this discussion held against the backdrop of New York City on the festival’s outdoor stage, author and critic Hamilton Cain (This Boy’s Faith) will speak with these writers about crafting a city as myth, metaphor, and reality.