Distant Lives, Forbidden Voices

Distant Lives, Forbidden Voices is an evening of readings presented by PEN America through The Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), a project designed to safeguard the right to artistic freedom of expression, and to ensure that artists everywhere can live and work without fear.

A range of exciting new voices, including Hala Alyan, Ana Božičević, Alexander Chee, Farnoosh Fathi, Marwa Helal, and Luis Jaramillo will read work by Oleg Sentsov, Liu Xia, Dareen Tatour, and other artists and writers at risk worldwide. Each reading will explore resonances and opportunities for solidarity with individuals who face threats, persecution, and censorship over their work.

The evening will be hosted in a site-specific gathering space conceived by the artist Radamés "Juni" Figueroa as part of the High Line's open-air group exhibition, Mutations, which looks at how boundaries between the natural world and culture are defined, crossed, and obliterated. You can learn more about the exhibition at art.thehighline.org.