Queerness, Masculinity, and Class

This is a free event, but registration is required.

Definitions of queerness and masculinity shift across cultures, often shaped and enforced by class.

Palestinian writer Tareq Baconi reflects on his childhood best friend, the boy he loved while growing up in Jordan, in his memoir Fire in Every Direction, set against the backdrop of his family’s history of dispossession. Afro-Dominican writer Alejandro Heredia’s novel Loca follows a queer Dominican immigrant processing trauma from his past in the Dominican Republic while navigating the financial and emotional precarity of his experience in the US. Moderating the conversation is Thomas Page McBee, whose memoir Amateur chronicles his training for a charity boxing match as he interrogates the cultural scripts of masculinity, aggression, and gender as a trans man.

Together, these writers will discuss the different ways queer lives unfold across continents and cultures.

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 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.

The LGBT Center is a fully accessible venue.

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.

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Host or Publisher PEN America