An Evening Without...

The ACLU of New York is doing a nice event at the end of this month.

Under the USA Patriot Act, the U.S. government is once again engaging in "ideological exclusion."

Join PEN American Center and the ACLU in New York on April 27 for "An Evening Without..."

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Dario Fo, Doris Lessing, Pierre Trudeau, Tokyo Sexwale, Graham Greene, Tariq Ramadan, Dora Maria Tellez, and other foreign writers, scholars, and political figures who were once -- or who are now, in the case of Tariq Ramadan and Dora Maria Tellez -- banned from the United States because our government does not like their political opinions.

Come hear Martin Amis, Russell Banks, Gioconda Belli, Barbara Goldsmith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Liev Schreiber, Todd Solondz, Eloy Urroz, Debra Winger and others read from the works of those that have been excluded.

You can learn more about ideological exclusion at Censorship at the Border, which includes a historical timeline of prominent artists and intellectuals who have been blocked from entering the U.S.

Granted, neither Pittsburgh nor Harrisburg nor Philadelphia have the dubious advantage of New York City's glittering literati, so it might be harder for us to pull off an event like this in Pennsylvania. But I hear that Rep. Metcalfe is honing his writing skills these days. Maybe he would read from One Hundred Years of Solitude for us?

Lisa in Pittsburgh