NEW YORK– June 22, PEN America will host a ‘Reading for Remembrance’ to spotlight the literary legacy of AIDS and its profound impact on future advocacy movements. During the first NYC Pride Week to feature a dedicated public memorial to the AIDS epidemic, the reading takes place under the dramatic, angular steel canopy of the NYC AIDS Memorial in the heart of New York’s West Village, appropriately inscribed with Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself.
Noted literary figures, emerging voices, and activists including Kate Bornstein, Timothy DuWhite, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Rickey Laurentiis, Jaime Manrique, Ethelbert Miller, Sarah Schulman, and Jean Valentine will share their work and pay tribute to iconic figures including Reinaldo Arenas, Tory Dent, Melvin Dixon, Tim Dlugos, Essex Hemphill, David Wojnarowicz, and others who have been indispensable in carrying forward the stories of the movement.
The ‘Reading for Remembrance’ will take place 6 – 8 p.m. at NYC AIDS Memorial, W 12th St. at Greenwich Ave., New York City. The event is free and open to the public.
