Philip Roth will be the subject of a three-day festival in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center will present Philip Roth Unbound in March, the cultural institution announced in a news release. It says the release “will celebrate, challenge and explore the life, legacy and work of novelist and Newark native Philip Roth, on what would have been his 90th birthday weekend.”
Roth, one of America’s most acclaimed 20th-century authors, set many of his best-known novels in Newark, including American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, and The Plot Against America. He bequeathed his personal library, along with $2 million, to the Newark Public Library upon his death in 2018.
The festival, NJPAC says, “will include star-studded readings, conversations, comedy, controversy and debate that will explore the significance and impact of Roth’s unique literary legacy.”
Among those scheduled to appear at the festival will be novelists Gary Shteyngart, Ayad Akhtar, and Joshua Cohen, as well as actors Mary-Louise Parker, John Turturro, and S. Epatha Merkerson.
John Schreiber, the CEO of NJPAC, said in a statement, “In presenting Philip Roth Unbound we have the opportunity to invite patrons into a unique and vibrant environment of discussion and examination, not only of a writer’s life and work, but of Newark and the nation as well.”
Philip Roth Unboundis scheduled to run from March 17 through March 19. More information about the festival can be found at the NJPAC website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
