In the Shadow of Ivory Towers: The Enduring Appeal of Dark Academia

All PEN World Voices Festival tickets are non-refundable. Please confirm the time and location of your event before finalizing your purchase.

The hallowed halls of academia have long captured the imaginations of writers. With their exclusivity, insularity, and at times cultish devotion to knowledge, they lend themselves to richly drawn atmospheres of darkness and mystery and incisive explorations of access, adolescence, and power.

In Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, magically gifted students fight not to become prey to the monsters that lurk in the school’s shadows. In Mónica Ojeda’s Jawbone (tr. Sarah Booker), it is the students themselves who are the monsters, and a school for the daughters of Ecuador’s elite becomes a breeding ground for cultish violence. And in Elisabeth Thomas’s Catherine House, it just might be the prestigious institution itself that poses the biggest threat.

Join these authors in conversation with writer and editor Christina Orlando as they unpack what drew them, and what draws us, again and again, to the evergreen genre of dark academia.

The 2026 PEN World Voices Festival is a celebration of world literature and free expression. The 2026 edition will be the 21st World Voices Festival. Over four days, over 140 writers from over 40 countries will be featured in 40+ engaging talks, panels, readings, and activations in New York City and greater Los Angeles.

Visit for more information about the entire festival, as well as PEN America.

Judson Memorial Church is an accessible venue. The back door (243 Thompson St) has elevator access to the space.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our Box Office team at [email protected] by April 15th to request.

Please ask a Box Office Attendant or festival representative upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]

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