Writers And Artists To Come Together At Miami Book Fair International For Readings Against The Surveillance State
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2008
CONTACT: Rachel Myers, ACLU, (212) 549-2689 or 2666, media@aclu.org; or Brandon Hensler, ACLU of Florida, media@aclufl.org
MIAMI – As part of the Miami Book Fair International, the American Civil Liberties Union and PEN American Center (PEN) will present Something to Hide: Writers and Artists Against the Surveillance State, an afternoon of readings from works that highlight how government surveillance threatens artistic and intellectual freedom, on November 15 at 2:45 p.m. EST.
“Over the past seven years, the president has asserted unprecedented power to spy on innocent Americans without any real oversight,” said Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “This kind of government monitoring has a chilling effect on free speech, inhibits creative expression and intellectual inquiry, and alters our political discourse. The next administration under President Obama should take immediate steps to end illegal spying and restore our fundamental rights to privacy, free speech and association.”
The afternoon will feature prominent American writers and artists reading selections that underscore how government practices such as warrantless surveillance of our telephone and Internet communications and the FBI’s unchecked use of National Security Letters inhibit creative expression and intellectual inquiry, and how government surveillance in the name of national security has been used to monitor artists and writers in the U.S. and around the world.
“One of the biggest mistakes we have made in this country since 9/11 is in thinking that we can employ tools that have long been the tools of tyranny without damaging essential personal freedoms,” said Larry Siems, director of Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center. “This program is meant to sound an alarm about threats to personal, creative freedom in the United States, and to remind us of what happens to societies that fail to protect this precious space.”
WHAT:
"Something to Hide: Writers and Artists Against the Surveillance State," a special reading by writers and artists designed to provoke reflection on unconstitutional government surveillance programs in the U.S.
WHO:
Poet Nikki Giovanni; novelist and columnist Carl Hiaasen; Miami Book Fair International co-founder Mitchell Kaplan; journalist and author Jonathan Mahler; National Book Award finalist and President of PEN American Center Francine Prose; writer Esmerelda Santiago; Pulitzer Prize-winning artist, illustrator and author Art Spiegelman; and award-winning filmmaker Annie Sundberg, among others, with a special performance by award-winning spoken word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit)
WHEN:
Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 2:45 p.m. EST
WHERE:
Miami Book Fair International
Chapman Auditorium
300 NE 2nd Ave.
Building 3, Room 3210
Miami, FL 33132
More information on the ACLU’s work to stop unchecked government surveillance is available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/spying
Admission is free but reservations are required. Contact (212) 549-2689 or media@aclu.org for more information.