NEW YORK — On a night otherwise dedicated to the endangered state of free expression, honoree Ann Patchett asked those gathered for PEN America's annual gala to take a breath and consider the revelations held within the event's setting — the American Museum of Natural History.
“The history of nature is made up of both extreme beauty and violence, volcanoes and butterflies, shifting tectonic plates and marsupials, the bones of the stegosaurus and the light of Milky Way,” the author and bookseller said Thursday night as she stood before hundreds at the Manhattan-based cultural institution museum and accepted the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award.
“To spend a day in this museum is to understand that the world had plenty of action before we got here, and it will continue to have plenty of action. And so, let us marvel that people still want to write books, and that we want to read them.”
Patchett and film producer Jason Blum were among the featured speakers and Amy Tan, Walter Isaacson and Rebecca Yarros among the table hosts for the fundraising dinner, which raised more than $2 million for the century-old literary and free expression organization. The gala took place as writers and journalists face persecution worldwide and after recent reports from PEN and the American Library Association documenting the continued surge in book bans in the U.S., with thousands of works being pulled from schools and libraries.
“First, they come for your freedom of expression. Without that freedom to raise your voice, it is much easier to strip away all of your other rights,” PEN co-CEO Summer Lopez said during her remarks. “We believe that hidden in the horrors of this moment is also an opportunity — to mobilize people and ignite a movement for free expression, here and everywhere."
Blum, the producer whose credits range from Jordan Peele's Oscar-nominated “Get Out” to such horror franchises as “Halloween” and “Paranormal Activity,” received PEN's Business Visionary award. He was introduced by the actor-singer Maya Hawke, who remembered him as a cherished childhood friend — he is her godfather — and an ongoing role model who “builds a safe and boundaried structure and then gives creatives freedom and control within that. Like a good father, or godfather.”
Blum wryly noted that horror films don't have a rich history of critical praise. He read off some of the insults he had come across, or alleged he came across: “For the young, the ignorant, and the idle" and “Extremely provocative of that sensation in the palate and throat which leads to nausea.”
But those remarks, he added, date back to the 19th century, and they were directed at the mass market sensation of the time — the novel.
“So all forms of storytelling, especially when they’re new and different, need protection from the forces of snobbery and suppression," he said.
The PEN gala, hosted by author-actor B.J. Novak, has long been a mix of star power and social causes. The Iranian writer-dissidents Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Ali Asadollahi were this year's recipients of the PEN/Barbery Freedom to Write Award, given to writers who have faced government harassment and imprisonment. PEN President Dinaw Mengestu, pointing out that neither was able to attend and that their absence was signified by two empty chairs, asked the audience to imagine a time of no empty chairs “on this stage or on any stage in this world.”
One of the night's longest ovations was given to the Tennessee-based activists Tatiana Silvas and Keri Lambert, whose anti-censorship Rutherford County Library Alliance has fought book bans in the Rutherford area. The library alliance was this year's winner of the PEN/Benenson Courage Award
“Libraries are not simply buildings filled with books. They are one of the few institutions that truly belong to everyone, regardless of age, income, background or beliefs,” Lambert said. “Defending libraries is really about defending democracy itself. A healthy community depends on informed citizens, open dialogue and the freedom to explore ideas. Libraries make all of that possible.”
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