PORTLAND — Portland Stage Company will host the 16th annual "From Away" festival of international playwriting on Monday, Nov. 5.

Each year, "From Away" brings talented writers from around the world to Portland, where excerpts of their work are performed in translation by Portland Stage’s Affiliate Artists. The readings are followed by an open forum discussion among the writers, participating artists and audience members.

"From Away" will take place at 7 p.m. at Portland Stage's home, 25A Forest Ave. Admission is pay what you can, with a suggested donation of $5.

Featured this year will be poet and fiction writer Jana Benova of Slovakia, playwright Choi Myoung Sook of South Korea; and novelist and playwright Christopher Mlalazi of Zimbabwe.

"From Away" is produced in collaboration with the International Writing Program  at the University of Iowa.  Benova, Choi and Mlalazi continue a tradition of connecting Portland audiences with culturally and politically significant foreign writers who are not well known in the United States.

Many writers participating in "From Away" have pushed for social change in their countries through the power of metaphor and the written word. They give  audiences a first-hand, behind-the-headlines perspective on artistic and political issues from around the globe.