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<BODY>Cambridge Forum <BR>3 Church Street ● Cambridge, MA 02138 <BR>617-495-2727 <BR>email: director@cambridgeforum.org <BR>www.cambridgeforum.org <BR><BR>Release September 22, 2010 <BR><BR>PEN NEW ENGLAND AND CAMBRIDGE FORUM <BR><BR>PRESENT <BR><BR>HOWARD ZINN AND THE FREEDOM TO WRITE <BR><BR>On SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2010 at 2 p.m, join Helene Atwan, Martin, Espada, Marc Favreau and David Zirin in discussing the legacy of Howard Zinn and the freedom to write. In the 60's Zinn’s defiant writing built and extended the anti-war movement from shore to shore. His legacy of anti -establishment books, from the landmark The People’s History of the United States to his final work, Three Plays: the Political Theater of Howard Zinn, he gave voice, credit, and visibility to those most often denied their voice in history, in their communities, in their own lives. <BR><BR>Another facet of Zinn’s “bottom-up” approach was his lifelong support for young writers and small presses. In 1956, he taught at Spellman College, a historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia. Among his students were Alice Walker, the future novelist, and Marian Wright Edelman, future leader of the Children Defense Fund; both credited him as their most influential college teacher. PEN-New England pays tribute to this aspect of Zinn’s legacy with a panel discussion featuring writers and editors reflecting on his influence on their careers and their publishing houses. <BR><BR>Panelists include: <BR><BR>Helene Atwan, director of Beacon Press, which published Howard Zinn’s work from 1946 to 2010; <BR><BR>David Zirin, author and sports editor for The Nation; <BR><BR>Marc Favreau, editorial director of The New Press which published many of Zinn’s books in recent decades; and <BR><BR>Martin Espada, poet and essayist who teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. <BR><BR>As part of this celebration of the power of writing, Richard Hoffman, chair of Pen-New England, will present the Vasyl Stus Freedom to Write Award and the Thomas Paine Award. The Vasyl Stus Award is named in honor of the leading Ukarinian poet of his generation who was also the last poet to die in the Soviet gulag. I5t is presented annually to a writer who has been imprisoned for his or her writings. <BR><BR>PEN-New England is one of five regional branches of PEN America Center, which in turn is part of International PEN, the only worldwide organization of writing professionals and the world’s first human rights organization. PEN’s mission is to promote literacy and a culture of literature, and to defend free expression everywhere. For more information, contact pen-ne@lesley.edu. <BR><BR>Cambridge Forum is recorded and edited for public radio broadcast. Edited CDs are available to the public by contacting 617-495-2727. Select forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website at www.cambridgeforum.org and clicking on the Forum Network at WGBH.</BODY><pre>
Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-2727
email: mailto:director@cambridgeforum.org
website: http://www.cambridgeforum.org
"Bringing People together to talk again . . ."
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