News & Events

 2022

• • • 9-11 March, TU Dresden. ‘The Art of New Alternatives: Nation-Building and the Creation of ‘New Community’ in Sri Lankan Art’. Conference Paper ‘Sri Lankan Witness Literature: Writing Truth and Truthiness’ and Public Reading with Samanth Subramanian and Visakesa Chandrasekaram on ‘And the Trauma of War’. Details here and here.

 2021

• • • 9 June, South Asia Centre, London School of Economics. ‘Leonard Woolf: Voicing “Ceylon”?’ Details here.
  • • 3 September, Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies (MAPS) Inaugural Conference: ‘Breaking Boundaries: Reimagining Borders in Postcolonial and Migrant Studies’. Details here.
  • • 25 October, 1-2pm, Poetry Translation Centre, Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies and Manchester Poetry Library: Anar Tour – Discussion with Anar on ‘Leaving’ (Free, online event). Details here.

 2020

• • • 19 March, Brick Lane Bookshop, London: A complete set of readings from the Republic of Consciousness shortlist: Jean-Baptiste Del-Amo, Toby Litt, Hanne Orstavik, Minoli Salgado, Isabel Waidner. Details here.  This event was cancelled due to the Covid crisis and readings broadcast online instead. The readings are here.
  • • 29 March-4 July, Gratiaen Prize Events: It has been a pleasure serving as Chair of the jury of the Gratiaen Prize 2019 and working with fellow judges Tara Coomaraswamy and Jake Oorloff. Everything is online this year including readings by longlisted writers, Q&A with shortlisted writers, readings from shortlisted work and the main award event.  Full details and links to video clips can be found here.
  • • 25-27 September, Small Wonder Festival, Charleston. Virtual poetry reading of ‘Tide Mills’. T.S. Eliot literature/film project. You can read and listen here.

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.