News & Events

 2019

• • • 27 March, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, University of Sussex; EngSoc Academic Conference: Stories, journeys and experiences: Keynote Paper: ‘Finding a Voice: A Sri Lankan Odyssey’. Details here.
  • • 23 May, Theatre Royal, Brighton Festival, Brighton: Not Today’s Yesterday, post-show panel discussion chaired by Seeta Patel. Details here.
  • • 19 June, Book Launch: Broken Jaw. The Roebuck, 50 Great Dover Street, London. Details here.
  • • 20 June, Chapel Royal, Brighton. ‘Broken Jaw: Stories of Sri Lanka’: Readings and Discussion with Dr John Masterson hosted by Brighton and Hove Freedom from Torture Supporters Group in support of Refugee Week.
  • • 21 June, Centre for Creative and Critical Thought, University of Sussex; Symposium: One Hundred Years of Freud’s Uncanny: Paper -‘Vadivel’s Body: On Torture and the Third Witness’.
  • • 14-18 July, The Missing Picture: 14th International Association of Genocide Scholars, American University of Phnom Penh: Performance ‘Two Cries from Home: Survivor Stories’ and Paper: ‘The Killing Fields and the Cambodian Imaginary: Traumatic Truths and Refugee Survivor Narratives’.
  • • 11-13 September, PSA Convention 2019: Justice, University of Manchester: Paper ‘Truth Tales: The Power of Testimonial Literature’.

   2018

• • • 26 & 28 March, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana: ‘Twelve Cries From Home’, Readings, Talk and Discussion conducted by Petra Meterc, introduced by Lilijana Burcar; Trubar House of Literature, Ljubljana: ‘The Mythology of Silence’, Literary Event, Readings and Book Signing with translator Ana Jasmina Oseban, moderated by Iztok Osojnik.
  • • 21 June, Chapel Royal, Brighton. ‘Speaking Silence’: Talk and Readings hosted by Brighton and Hove Freedom from Torture Supporters Group in support of Refugee Week.
  • • 27-30 June, 15th International Conference on the Short Story in English, University of Lisbon. Readings and Paper: ‘Orphan Tales: Family Fictions and Originary Loss in  Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields‘. Details here.
  • • 7th September, National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Writing Truths: The Power of Testimony: workshop on developing a survivor-centred approach.

  2017

  • • 10-12 May, ‘Narratives of Trauma’ Symposium, Ege University, Izmir. Readings and Paper: ‘Narrating and Unnarrating the Cambodian Genocide’.
  • • 7 July, Waterstones, Lewes, The Insomnia Poems: An Evening with Grace Nichols, John Agard and Minoli Salgado. Details here.
  • • 14 October, PHEC Conference: ‘The Inheritance of Injustice’, Habib University, Karachi. Talk on ‘Writing Wrongs: Literary Reflections on Testimony and Trauma in Sri Lanka’ and Readings and Discussion with Dr Sabyn Javeri. Details here .

  Updates

  • • Amnesty International launched its trilingual book of poetry, Silenced Shadows, in Colombo in February. The book included the winning entries of their poetry competition on enforced disappearance for which I was a judge. Details here.
    • ‘Heart’ – my autobiographical story first published in Wasafiri – was translated into Russian and published in the edited volume, Under the Skies of South Asia: Territory and Belonging, by Anna Bochkovskaya in Moscow in March.

   2016

  • • 13-17 January, Galle Literary Festival: Duet with Nayomi Munaweera; Panel Discussion on the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, chaired by Prof Syed Manzarool Islam. Details here.
    • 20 January, Department of English, University of Colombo: Guest Lecture – Sri Lankan and Migrant Literature.
    • 4 October, South Asian Fictions, The Dhaba, University of Sussex: Readings and Discussion with Hilary Standing. 4.15 – 5.30 pm.
    • 13 October, Needlewriters, Lewes: Readings with Marion Tracy and Tony Flynn. Details here.

  2015

  • • 7 March, Spring Literature Festival: Cultural Confluences, SOAS, University of London. Registration free. Details here.
    • 12 March, Postcolonial Research Seminar, University of Kent. Paper: ‘Necropolitics and the Crisis of Witnessing in Sri Lanka’.
    • 11 October, Drawing Room 54: An Evening with Sinha and Salgado. Details here.

  Updates

  • • A Slovenian translation of A Little Dust on the Eyes is due for publication by Polica Dubova Publishing House next year.
    • A Russian translation of ‘Heart’ is due for publication  in Under the Skies of South Asia: Territory and Belonging in Moscow in 2016.

  2014

  • • 8 October, Southbank Centre: London Book Launch of A Little Dust on the Eyes and Conversation with Bernadine Evaristo. Details  here.
    • 8 October, Interview with Danny Pike, BBC Radio Sussex & BBC Radio Surrey.
    • 18 October, Ilkley Literature Festival: Readings and Conversation with Professor John McLeod: Details here.
    •  22 October, Wasafiri 30th Birthday Celebrations, Goldsmiths College: Details here.
    •  6 November, the Norwich Playhouse: Event postponed until 2015.
    • 28-29 November, Reframing Disaster Conference and Exhibition, University of Leeds: Conference Paper, Readings and Conversation with Dr Shamira Meghani. Details here.
    • 3 December, Sussex Book Launch and Conversation with Dr Denise deCaires Narain,  University of Sussex.