WASHINGTON—An event meant to celebrate China’s literary life provided occasion for criticizing the regime’s censorship.
This year in New York City on May, 27-29, China was the featured country in the BookExpo America (BEA) 2015, held at the Javits Center. As the publishing industry’s largest U.S. trade show with 600+ authors, hundreds of new titles, and hundreds of exhibitors, BEA is the “largest gathering of booksellers, librarians, retailers, and book industry professionals in North America,” states its website.
Dissident writers, publishers and human rights organizations held an alternative “Shadow Expo,” as a counter to the BEA, on the steps of the New York City Public Library on May 27. In Washington, D.C., events were held at the State Department, Capitol Hill, and the White House, according to Suzanne Nossel, executive director, PEN American Center. Nossel spoke May 28 in Washington, D.C. at Freedom House, a human rights organization.
Nossel said that the Chinese authors available at the BEA, were “all hand-picked.” They are “not those who have challenged the system and stood up for human rights assertively.”
As a continuation of the Shadow Expo, three of China’s leading literary dissidents—Bao Pu, Xiaolu Guo, and Murong Xuecun—participated in a discussion about censorship and creative freedom in China at Freedom House. The same three had appeared a day or two before on the steps of the New York City Public Library and at the Council of Foreign Relations.
PEN America and Freedom House jointly sponsored the Freedom House event.
