World Voices Festival 2017 focused on vital issues of the political period, with a special focus on the restive relationship between gender and power. Taking place in New York City May 1–7, 2017, the weeklong festival used the lens of literature and the arts to confront new challenges to free expression and human rights—issues that have been core to PEN America’s mission since its founding. During an historic moment of both unprecedented attacks on core freedoms and the emergence of new forms of resistance, the festival offered a platform for a global community of writers, artists and thinkers to connect with a concerned public to fight back against bigotry, hatred and isolationism. The event featured Samantha Bee, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Carrie Brownstein, Teju Cole, Masha Gessen, Cecile Richards, Patti Smith, Gabourey Sidibe, Andrew Solomon, Saeed Jones, and many more. Selected 2017 Programs United Against Hate Exposure: Politics, Sex, and Power Portraying Gay Male Life Today Gender, Power, and Authoritarianism in the Dystopian Age Pen vs. Sword: Satire vs. the State Arthur Miller Lecture: Masha Gessen and Samantha Bee Forbidden: Too Punk/Too Queer Queer Representation and the Media Girl-Powered Fiction Corrosive Power The Female Flaneur: Reclaiming the City Power of the Arts: From Propaganda to Free Speech Gender, Power, and Faith Forbidden: Too Liberated Monkey Business: Japan/America Writers' Dialogue Literary Quest: Tenement Edition A Woman's Place: In Food, Power and Writing Water as Weapon Shattering Taboos to Change Culture Forbidden: Too Desirous Forbidden: Too Much in Love The Poetry of War PEN World Voices 2018 In 2017, PEN America recruited Chip Rolley, the former artistic director of Sydney Writers Festival, to take the position of Senior Director of Literary Programs and Director of World Voices Festival. The 2018 Festival featured an unprecedented breadth of literary and cultural luminaries under the banner of “Resist and Reimagine.” The theme captured the political division and discord apparent in the US and around the world, as well as the hope, energy, and activism shown by people coming together in powerful new ways to resist the encroachments on rights, liberties, and values. More than 200 writers, poets, artists and thinkers representing 50 nationalities gathered in New York City for over 90 conversations, readings, debates, and discussions celebrating the best of the year’s literature and covering many different kinds of resistances—the internal and the external, the political and the personal—in different cultures, identities, and communities. The festival