Closing Ceremony of the International Multilingual Creative Writing Conference

The Instituto Cervantes in New York will host the closing of the International Multilingual Creative Writing Conference, a special event that will feature the participation of writers Espido Freire and Giannina Braschi.

In the first speech of the evening, Espido Freire will give presentation entitled Nacer o hacerse: veinticinco años de creación literaria en España (To be born or to become: twenty-five years of literary creation in Spain). Freire made her debut as a writer with Irlanda (1998), a novel that received excellent critical acclaim and was awarded the Millepage Prize for best foreign debut novel. In 1999 she became the youngest winner of the prestigious Planeta Prize with her work Melocotones helados (1999). Her works have been translated into more than a dozen languages, including English, French, German and Turkish.

Afterward, writer Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé will present the book Putinoika by Giannina Braschi and talk with the writer. Braschi is an emblematic voice in contemporary American literature and political philosophy. She writes in Spanish, Spanglish and English. The Library of Congress calls Braschi's work "avant-garde, influential, and even revolutionary." PEN America calls her one of the "most revolutionary voices in Latin America today."

The conference is organized by the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies of the City College of The City University of New York (CCNY CWE), The Americas Poetry festival of New York (TAPFNY) and the University of La Rioja.