Join us for a two-day symposium October 6-7 that offers an exciting public conversation about the state of the art of reportage amid a rapidly changing media landscape and various approaches to long-form and literary journalism as practiced by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński.
EVENT PREVIEW: OCTOBER 6-7 SYMPOSIUM
After Kapuściński: The Art of Reportage in the 21st Century
NYU’s Hemmerdinger Hall
100 Washington Square East
Ryszard Kapuściński, who died in 2007, was one of the most celebrated and controversial journalists of the last fifty years. He found his calling covering Africa. In his early years he developed the technique of two notebooks: one allowed him to earn his living with the bread and butter of agency reporting of facts, while the other was filled with the experiences, sights and smells of Africa. This second notebook developed into his famous books The Emperor (1978) which chronicled the fall of Haile Selassie of Ethopia, Another Day of Life (1976) a unique and closely observed account of the collapse of Portugufese colonialism in Angola, and Shah of Shahs (1982) on the last days of Shah Pahlavi of Iran. To what extent is that kind of reporting he engaged in is even possible today? What lessons can the next generation of writers draw from his example?
The OPC is offering its members a chance to take part in this important event which is being sponsored by the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, National Book Critics Circle, New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, in association with the OPC and Words Without Borders. The two day symposium offers an exciting public conversation about the state of the art of reportage amid a rapidly changing media landscape and various approaches to long-form and literary journalism as practiced by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński. At a time when categorical differences between fiction and nonfiction are increasingly ambiguous, and the gap between their respective segments of the publishing market increasingly small, a discussion of reportage as a literary art form is paramount.
Two OPC Board members are involved with the project. Secretary Jane Ciabattari, a symposium organizer, is President of the National Book Critics Circle and OPC Secretary. Her reporting from abroad and cultural criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian online, npr.org, Bookforum, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Appearing on the third panel is Klara Glowczewska, Editor in Chief of Conde Nast Traveler and translator of three of Ryszard Kapuściński’s books.
Panel I on Tuesday, October 6 from 5 to 7 p.m.
The Art of Reportage: On the Ground and On the Page
Jane Ciabattari, Moderator of a panel which includes Joshua Clark, Eliza Griswold, Arif Jamal, Elizabeth Rubin and Pawel Smolenski
Panel II on Tuesday, October 6 from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Literary Reportage Between Self and Other, Fact and Fiction
Lawrence Weschler, Moderator, with panelists Alastair Reid, Wojciech Jagielski, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and Suketu Mehta.
Panel III on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Kapuscinski’s Legacy in the 21st Century
Robert S. Boynton, Moderator, with panelists Breyten Breytenbach, Ted Conover, Klara Glowczewska, Wiktor Osiatynski and David Samuels.
There is no need to RSVP. Admission is free and is on a first-come, first-in basis at NYU’s Hemmerdinger Hall located at 100 Washington Square East.