Ghost Stories: Siri Hustvedt with Katie Kitamura

The PEN World Voices Festival is honored to host a special pre-publication launch of Siri Hustvedt’s Ghost Stories: A Memoir and to celebrate the legacy of the internationally renowned writer and longtime friend of PEN, Paul Auster.

Ghost Stories is an intimate meditation on grief, memory, and lasting love that Hustvedt began writing not long after her husband, Paul Auster, died. Along with Hustvedt’s reflections, the memoir combines Auster’s unpublished personal texts, including pages from a last book he was unable to finish.

Joined in conversation by acclaimed novelist Katie Kitamura, Hustvedt will discuss how grief unmoors time, how the intimacy of a shared life continues to mark the everyday, and how the body experiences the absence of love as a presence.

The 2026 PEN World Voices Festival is a celebration of world literature and free expression. The 2026 edition will be the 21st World Voices Festival. Over four days, more than140 writers from over 40 countries will be featured in 40+ engaging talks, panels, readings, and activations in New York City and greater Los Angeles.

Visit for more information about the entire festival, as well as PEN America.

This venue is ADA compliant. The space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our Box Office team at [email protected] by April 16th to request.

Please ask a Box Office Attendant or festival representative upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway, New York, United States

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