In 2005, the Chicago Humanities Festival examined notions of place, belonging, and movement, through the theme Home and Away. In 2019, the abstract idea of our globalized, interconnected world has real, material consequences for many people: those who are escaping violence, seeking a better life, and facing the challenges of movement and migration, borders and borderlands, interzones and cultural zones. As the right to a homeland remains a contested subject, the very notion “home” and belonging–and especially how it shapes our identities–is as germane as ever. From imagined communities to local dialects, how think about our own specific rootedness (or lack thereof) in a wider global context has implications for how we connect with one another and see the world. What does “home” mean when it feels like everything is moving? How do we create welcoming spaces?

In the 2019 Spring Festival and in partnership with PEN America and its President, the Pulitzer-prize winning and Chicago-born writer Jennifer Egan, along with novelist Aleksandar Hemon, we bring you a conversation about what it takes to secure the space and freedom to write, even in exile, as well as the current threats to freedom of expression.