Past Lives/ Present Loves

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

Love may spring eternal, but can it transcend the constraints of history, grief, and who we once were?

The characters in Eimear McBride’s The City Changes Its Face, Denne Michelle Norris’s When the Harvest Comes, and Aja Gabel’s Lightbreakers find the bounds of their relationships stretched to hold the weight of past lives.

Join us for a discussion with these three writers whose novels ask how couples make room for past lovers, old wounds, and hidden longings. Moderated by Fanta Diallo, Senior Publicist at W.W. Norton & Company.

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, more than140 writers from 40 countries will be featured in 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.

The LGBT center is a fully ADA accessible 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]

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher PEN America