Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and novelist Ayad Akhtar will be the next president of PEN America.
The literary nonprofit announced Tuesday that Akhtar, author of plays such as Disgraced and The Invisible Hand and the novels American Dervish and Homeland Elegies (coming out Sept. 15), will succeed Jennifer Egan as the organization’s leader.
“Ayad is a dauntless documenter of our time,” said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel in a news release. “His writing across disciplines voices the unspoken and lays bare what many would rather keep cloaked. His willingness to break boundaries and risk backlash make him an especially appropriate leader for PEN America at a time when our collective cultural parameters are being renegotiated.”
In an interview with John Williams of the New York Times, Akhtar said his priorities as president will include continuing the organization’s national outreach and engaging in free speech issues, as well as keeping focus on the literary efforts of the group.
“[Literature is] not just a pastime or something some people do because they have a taste for it,” Akhtar said. “It can be part of our national discourse and can contribute to it in interesting ways.”
Akhtar, who has been a PEN America trustee for five years, starts his term as president on Dec. 2.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
