PEN American Center & ACLU to Host Public Reading of Mohamedou Ould Slahi's GUANTANAMO DIARY, 1/26

On Monday, January 26, PEN American Center, in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), will present a public reading and conversation to mark the publication of Mohamedou Ould Slahi's Guantánamo Diary (Little, Brown & Company). The first and only diary by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee to be released publicly, Guantánamo Diary is an authoritative first-hand account of imprisonment, torture, and day-to-day human interactions in the world's most infamous detention camp. For this unprecedented international publishing event, a stellar line-up including authors and PEN members Michael Cunningham, Joshua Ferris, Nicole Krauss, Francine Prose, Douglas Rushkoff, and Luc Sante, visual artist Molly Crabapple and actress Lili Taylor will join forces to read from the book. Following the reading, Philip Gourevitch will moderate a conversation between Larry Siems, Guantánamo Diary editor and former PEN American Center Freedom to Write Director, and Nancy Hollander, a lead attorney for Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Suzanne Nossel, PEN American Center Executive Director, and Hina Shamsi, Director, ACLU National Security Project and part of Slahi's legal team, will offer opening remarks.

Three years into his captivity, Slahi began a diary to recount both his life before he was seized by the United States and his experiences as a detainee. His diary is not merely a vivid record of a miscarriage of justice, but a deeply personal memoir-terrifying, darkly humorous, and surprisingly gracious. His attorneys fought for seven years to have the manuscript declassified and cleared for public release, yet some sections remained redacted in the published edition.

A document of historical importance, Guantánamo Diary will be released simultaneously around the world on January 20, 2015 and form the basis of an international and ongoing campaign to free Slahi.

Tickets are $15/$10 for PEN & ACLU members, seniors, students. To order tickets, visit pen.org/guantanamo-diary. Press who wish to attend must RSVP to Isabelle Deconinck at isadeco@earthlink.net by Friday, January 23.