Cry, The Beloved Country With Tatiana Voltskya, Tahir Hamut, and Burhan Sönmez

In this episode, writers from across the globe, including Russian poet Tatiana Voltskaya with Russian writer and translator Elina Alter, Uyghur poet Tahir Hamut with historian and translator Joshua L. Freeman, and Turkish novelist Burhan Sönmez, join in solidarity to share powerful messages of resistance, resilience, and hope responding to injustice in their parts of the world. First, Tatiana Voltskaya shares a poem about how the past haunts us, and how having a terrible foundation, metaphorically and also literally being built on a swamp, has made St. Petersburg, and Russia, dangerous and frightening. Next, Tahir Hamut reads “What is It?,” a poem he wrote shortly after fleeing persecution in the Uyghur region, and which reflects his inner turmoil in having to leave home for safety in America and is filled with imagery of his distant homeland. Finally, Burhan Sönmez shares a new reflection on the complicated feeling of home, as his memories of a less than idyllic childhood confront the current harsh realities of crumbling democracy in his native Turkey. PEN America thanks the following sponsors for their support of the 2020 PEN World Voices Festival: The National Endowment for the Arts New York State Council on the Arts The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (New York City) Amazon Literary Partnership The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Acton Family Giving

Om Podcasten

These Truths brings the writers and artists of the 2020 PEN World Voices Festival right into your home. Each week, writers from America’s premier international literary festival will explore works that wrestle with contested history, challenge the fabrications served to us on an almost daily basis, and awaken us to the beauty and power of storytelling. When the factual basis of our daily lives is constantly undermined, this podcast explores how literature can help us arrive at the truth and a deeper understanding of what connects us.