The 2023 PEN World Voices Festival was envisioned and assembled by a curatorial committee. Upholding the festival’s long-standing approach to the power of storytelling as a change-making tool, these curators tapped wide-ranging voices from around the globe to help bring about new understandings to this moment of uncertainty and flux—often asking how, from here, we may shape our future.
2023 Festival Chair
Ayad Akhtar PEN America President & 2023 Festival Chair
2023 Guest Chairs
Marlon James Author & 2023 Guest Chair
Ottessa Moshfegh Author & 2023 Guest Chair
Curatorial Committee
Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf Chief Program Officer, Literary Programming
Sabir Sultan Associate Director of the World Voices Festival & Literary Programs