April 26 - May 2 agenda: World Expo 2010, WWW2010 and PEN

(AFP PHOTO)

Key events on next week's global calendar include the kickoff of World Expo 2010 in China, a web conference in the US, as well as an announcement of the "top 50 restaurants in the world" and an international literary conference.

WWW2010
April 26-30
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, NC, USA

The international World Wide Web conference is an annual event that focuses on the future direction of the internet. A high-profile list of speakers will be presenting their ideas during the conference in 2010 including the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee; Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero; Vint Cerf, vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google; UNC professor and Director of iBiblio.org, Paul Jones; Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Executive Office of the President; and University of Southampton Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Director of the Web Science Trust and Web Foundation. Three internet-related conferences, WebSci 10 (April 26-27), W4A 2010 (April 26-27), FutureWeb 2010 (April 28-30), will also be held at the Raleigh Convention Center during the WWW2010 event.
http://www2010.org/www

The World's 50 Best Restaurants
April 26
Guildhall, London, United Kingdom

The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list is announced annually and based on its academy's votes. The academy is comprised of international food critics, restaurateurs, writers and chefs. Each member of the academy votes for his or her top five restaurants. And, the criteria is two-fold, voters are to have dined at the restaurants within a period of 18 months and two votes are to be given to restaurants outside the voters' geographic locale.
http://www.theworlds50best.com/

PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature
April 26-May 2
New York City, NY, USA

The Sixth Annual PEN World Voices Festival will feature 150 writers from 40 countries in more than 50 events all around New York City. Organized by PEN, which campaigns around the world on behalf of persecuted writers, the festival is chaired this year by Salman Rushdie. Other participating authors include Sherman Alexie, Philippe Djian, Toni Morrison, Patti Smith, and Jean-Philippe Toussaint. Events include readings, a cabaret, and a panel on film adaptations.
http://www.pen.org/festival

Nordic Game Conference
April 27-30
Malmö, Sweden
Part of the Nordic Game Program, a co-operative project set up by the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish governments, the NGC includes an awards ceremony for Nordic games and developers, talks from staff at BioWare, DICE, Remedy, Funcom, RedLynx, Playfish, and a night for Nordic independent game developers. With DICE riding high from the success of Bad Company 2, Avalanche having released Just Cause 2 mid-March, and Remedy on the cusp of launching the long-awaited Alan Wake, there should be some interesting presentations to say the least.
http://www.nordicgame.com

Cricket: ICC World Twenty20
April 30 - May 16
Various locations, West Indies

Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland join the world's nine top seeded teams on the West Indian islands including Barbados, St Lucia, and St.Kitts & Nevis to contest the Twenty20 title over a series of short matches. After a week of warm-up games, the Super 8s commence the tournament's knock-out stage from May 6 onwards, building up to the climactic semi finals on May 13 and then the final on May 17. Sky Sports and the BBC cover the competition in the UK and Ireland, Eurosport in mainland Europe, ESPN in Asia and India, while Fox and Sky also have Australia. Canadian and Afghani viewers can catch the matches on ATN - distinct yet similarly titled broadcasting companies.
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/events_and_awards/twenty20/index.php

"Frida Kahlo - Retrospective" in Berlin
April 30-August 9
Martin-Gropius-Bau
Berlin, Germany

Martin-Gropius-Bau presents the most extensive exhibition of Frida Kahlo's oeuvre to date in Germany with over 120 paintings and drawings from the Mexican artist who marked the world of Latin American art, as well as international art, with her tragic and yet colorful way of depicting herself. In the first half of the 20th century she knew better than anyone else how to combine the enigmatic culture of her home country with her own traumatic experiences.
http://www.martin-gropius-bau.de

World Expo 2010
May 1 - October 31
Shanghai, China

Shanghai Expo is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors during its six months in China's biggest city. Around 200 countries have confirmed that they will attend the event, first held in 1851 at London's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, and designed to promote "the exchange of ideas and development of the world economy, culture, science and technology.''
http://en.expo2010.cn

Modern Masters: Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol
May 1-June 23
V&A Museum
London, UK

Modern Masters: Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol focuses on prints made by four of the 20th century's greatest artists. The exhibition features more than 50 works from the museum's own collection of works. The exhibition examines each of the four artists' connection with the medium of printmaking. Their printmaking techniques can be closely studied through both their celebrated art print works and some of their lesser known pieces. The works span a period of 75 years and draw on inspiration from one of the most diverse and artistically creative periods in the history of western art.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/index.html