UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — V.V. Ganeshananthan, who recently won the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for her novel “Brotherless Nights,” will be one of the four Sri Lankan writers visiting Penn State to read from their works and discuss the challenges of writing in areas of displacement and conflict.
The event, "Writing in Displacement: A Day of Readings and Conversation with Sri Lankan Writers," will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, April 4, in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium on Penn State’s University Park campus. Lunch and refreshments will be provided during the event, which is free and open to the public.
Ganeshananthan also is the author of “Love Marriage,” which was longlisted for the Women's Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post. Her work also has appeared in Granta, The New York Times and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications.
Other prominent writers reading participating in the event include:
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Indran Amirthanayagam, who writes, translates and publishes poetry and essays in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. Amirthanayagam’s poems have won a Paterson Poetry Prize and a Juegos Florales, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Kenyon Review, the New England Review, BOMB, Siempre and La Gaceta, among others.
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Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a widely respected disability justice activist, scholar and creative writer whose works include four collections of poetry and their latest book, “The Future is Disabled.” Accolades bestowed upon Piepzna-Samarasinha include the 2012 Lambda Literary Award and the 2021 Nautilus Award for Nonfiction.
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Cheran Rudramoorthy, who has authored more than 15 books in Tamil and whose work has been translated into 20 languages. Rudramoorthy isalso a professor of sociology at the University of Windsor, Canada.
The writers' readings will be guided by Elizabeth Nicole Kadetsky, Penn State professor of English and creative writing. Tina Chen, associate professor of English and Asian American studies and founding director of the Global Asias Initiative, will moderate a panel discussion with all four writers.
This year marks the first offering of “Writing in Displacement,” a series that plans to bring writers from regions of conflict to Penn State each spring to read from their works and discuss their craft. In addition to the readings and panel discussion, “Writing in Displacement” also features an essay competition open to all undergraduates that offers them an opportunity to reflect on their engagement with the writing and performance of one or more of the authors featured at the event.
This event is funded by Suresh Canagarajah, Evan Pugh University Professor of Applied Linguistics, English, and Asian Studies, and co-sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies Department; Department of English; Disability Studies Minor; Center for Democratic Deliberation; Center for Global Studies; Creative Writing Program; Humanities Institute; Migration Studies Project; Penn State University Libraries; and the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. To learn more about the event, contact Canagarajah at asc16@psu.edu.