The Second Novel | 2023 World Voices Festival

The journey to and from a second novel can be more fraught than writing and publishing a first. The anticipation of it being measured against the first—and ultimately better-received, or panned after their first saw critical acclaim—can strain the act of creating new work. Some authors take decades to write their second novel, and some authors never finish it. This event moderated by Marlon James (The Book of Night Women) will explore the stakes for writers when broaching their second novel and ask them how this process figured into their writing life. Participating in the discussion are Elif Batuman (Either/Or), Alexander Chee (The Queen of the Night), Garth Greenwell (Cleanness), and Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns). pen.org/festival