Masha Gessen, Osama Alomar, Uzodinma Iweala, and Idra Novey are just a few of the 26 outstanding writers and translators who will join us for our annual celebration this November, chaired by James H. Ottaway, Jr. Jill Schoolman, founder and publisher of Archipelago Books, will be honored with the 2017 Ottaway Award, presented to her by Edwin Frank.
The WWB Gala is the international literary party of the season and raises much-needed support for our mission to foster greater cultural understanding through literature. It’s also an opportunity to rub elbows with some of today’s most exciting writers and translators.
This year we’re delighted to be joined by more WWB contributors than ever before, including several rising stars of international literature: Georgi Gospodinov, one of Bulgaria’s most translated contemporary writers and author of The Physics of Sorrow; Osama Alomar, a Syrian writer of fiction, poetry, and essays, who is best known for his beguiling microfictions; and Malagasy author Naivo, whose work of historical fiction Beyond the Rice Fields is the first novel from Madagascar ever translated into English.
Gala Hosts
Ian Buruma, Honorary Co-Chair
Maaza Mengiste, Emcee
Elliot Ackerman
Osama Alomar
Sinan Antoon
Jennifer Clement
Molly Crabapple
Alvaro Enrigue
Masha Gessen
Georgi Gospodinov
Uzodinma Iweala
Katie Kitamura
Hari Kunzru
Valeria Luiselli
Alia Malek
Naivo
Idra Novey
Gregory Pardlo
Silvana Paternostro
Rakesh Satyal
Globe Trot Hosts
Hala Alyan
Alex Gilvarry
Jaroslav Kalfar
Katrine Øgaard Jensen
Kanishk Tharoor
Jenny Zhang
