Author V.V. Ganeshananthan reflects on her choice to attend the 2009 Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka, just 500 kilometers from violent conflict.

Ganeshananthan explains why she “refused to disappear” despite a boycott of the festival organized by Reporters Without Borders, protesting the suppression of free speech in that country. She asks, “If my brother vanishes, is it an act of solidarity for me to leave the place where he was lost? When I have the ability to be there?”