The Female Gaze: Powerful Narratives for The Times, Sponsored by PEN America

Saturday, Mar 29, 2025 3:20 PM - 4:35 PM PT

Petree Hall C, Level One, Los Angeles Convention Center

What counts as a powerful female narrative in our current cultural landscape? Why do stories around female identity, rights to our bodies, and education, spark so much controversy? How do we engage our audiences in these conversations? PEN America presents a discussion with bestselling author Jodi Picoult, whose work Nineteen Minutes was the most banned title in 2024.

Panelist Bios: 
 

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including By Any Other Name, Mad Honey (co-authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan), Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband.

Photo credit: Tim Llewellyn
 

Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf  joined PEN America in 2015 and currently serves as the chief program officer of Literary Programming. Beginning in Nov 2024, she is also serving as interim co-CEO of PEN America. She oversees curation, production, audience building, and strategy for a range of programs and initiatives honoring literary excellence, lifting writers whose voices need to be heard, and curating public programs featuring American and international authors and artists.