Join WWB on Wednesday, October 25, at 6:00 PM EDT, as we celebrate a major milestone: twenty years of publishing and promoting the world’s vital literary voices.
The annual WWB gala is the international literary party of the season, featuring a lively pre-dinner cocktail, moving multilingual readings, and a delicious dinner in the company of our exciting literary hosts. Our popular Globe Trot after-party will follow the event on site. Ilya Kaminsky will serve as the honorary chair of the gala, and Merve Emre will host the event. Tickets and sponsorships can be purchased at the link above.
The 2023 WWB Gala literary hosts:
Salar Abdoh
Author of A Nearby Country Called Love
Esther Allen
Writer and translator of José Martí: Selected Writings
Carmen Boullosa
Author of The Book of Eve
Christopher Cerf
Author of A Skunk in My Bunk!
Boris Dralyuk
Award-winning translator of Andrey Kurkov’s Grey Bees
Daniel Hahn
Author; translator of Martín Kohan’s Confessions
Nathalie Handal
Award-winning author of Life in a Country Album
Jaroslav Kalfař
Author of A Brief History of Living Forever
Sheba Karim
Author of The Marvelous Mirza Girls
Amitava Kumar
Author of the forthcoming novel My Beloved Life (Feb. 2024)
Laila Lalami
Author of The Other Americans
Maaza Mengiste
Author of The Shadow King
Valzhyna Mort
Author of Music for the Dead and Resurrected
Ahmed Naji
Author of Rotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in an Egyptian Prison
Chigozie Obioma
Author of The Fishermen
Tom Perrotta
Author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win
Parul Sehgal
Staff writer at The New Yorker
Jeremy Tiang
Playwright of Salesman之死
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Author of the novel Digging Stars
Katherine Vaz Cerf
Author of Above the Salt
Emily Wilson
Translator of The Iliad
With special thanks to our Gala Champions:
Apple Books
Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation
Curtis Brown
The Gernert Company
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers
Ingram Content Group
Irwin & Hsuan LLP
London Literary Scouting
Macmillan Publishers
Maria B. Campbell Associates
Open Road Integrated Media
Penguin Random House
The Phyllis and Bennett Cerf Foundation
The Robbins Office, Inc.
Simon & Schuster
Spotify
Susanna Lea Associates
United Talent Agency
And the Gala Host Committee:
Maria B. Campbell, Chair
Tara Parsons, Vice Chair
Amy and Peter Bernstein
Richard d’Albert and Catherine Greenman
Merve Emre
Toan Huynh and Jonathan Schorr
Jenny Staff Johnson
Anthony Knerr
Alane Salierno Mason
Jim Ottaway, Jr.
Gregory Phillips
Enid Prasad
Kalpana Raina
Chantal Restivo-Alessi
Samantha Schnee
Rebecca Servadio
Agnes Ahlander Turner
Anthony and Margo Viscusi
Media Sponsors
American Literary Translators Association
City of Asylum
Can’t make it to New York? Join us at the Virtual Gala on November 2nd!
If you’d like to make a donation to the gala, you can use the “Make a Donation” field below or mail a check made out to Words Without Borders to the WWB office:
Words Without Borders
147 Prince Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
For any questions, please reach out to us at giving@wordswithoutborders.org.
A note about COVID-19 safety
We encourage all attendees to be up to date on vaccinations and to take a rapid test the day of the event. If you test positive and/or have symptoms, please stay home. Masks are not required but are welcome and encouraged.