Double Visions: Aminatta Forna and Laila Lalami at the 2022 PEN America: World Voices Festival

The second day of the 2022 PEN America: World Voices Festival featured Aminatta Forna in conversation with Pulitzer Prize Finalist Laila Lalami. Both of these authors draw from their own lives to explore the desire for belonging in boundary-crossing experiences centered on identity, notions of place, and questions of origin. Together, they discussed how their nonfiction works document life on the edges of belonging—across cultures, countries, and eras.

The PEN World Voices Literary Festival is the premier celebration of international literature in the United States, featuring writers in a variety of cross-cultural exchanges and events—from lively debates that delve into the most pressing issues of our time, to intimate conversations that awaken us to the quiet beauty and power of literature.