Rumpus Original Fiction: Of Birds Alit in Trees
Her name is Selvakumari, but the name catches like a vine in the family’s mouth, comes out bungled and limp. They call her Sally.
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Posts Tagged: Sri Lanka
The Ability to Pass Becomes Her Cage: Talking with SJ Sindu
SJ Sindu discusses her new novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies, queer readings of Hindu scriptures, and issues of privilege and power.
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On Speaking Plainly: A Conversation with Rajith Savanadasa
Rajith Savanadasa discusses his debut novel, Ruins, writing across oceans, and the chance encounter with refugees that led to the story at the heart of his novel.
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The Sunday Rumpus Interview: Dipika Mukherjee
Telling a human story, with individuals experiencing the effects of an actual political issue—that’s my part in shaking the ground.
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The Rumpus Interview with Gregory Pardlo
Poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Gregory Pardlo discusses the reverence for poetry found in other cultures, how he strings a book together, and the future of American poetry in light of our national crisis.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Anuk Arudpragasam
Anuk Arudpragasm discusses his debut novel The Story of a Brief Marriage, the bombing of civilians during the war in Sri Lanka, documenting war crimes, and powerful Tamil women.
...moreLiterature and Language in the Land of Serendipity
Over at Electric Literature, the eloquent Ru Freeman offers her perspective on Sri Lanka’s love of the written and spoken word, as she reflects up on her own upbringing in the island nation: They loved literature because they had been taught, as we had been taught, about the significance of the imagination, and of the […]
...moreWriting War From Afar
It was a really big deal for me that a Sri Lankan publisher picked it up. I didn’t grow up there, and I didn’t go through [the war], so there’s always been a question of legitimacy. When I was at the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA) workshop in 2011, I had these tremendous […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Nayomi Munaweera
Nayomi Munaweera discusses Sri Lanka, its brutal Civil War, and writing a novel about two artists with their identities wrapped up in two different countries, Sri Lanka and America.
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Catawampus Uber Alles!: The Rumpus Interview with Peter Mountford
Writer Peter Mountford talks about his latest novel, the impossibility of altruism, the realities of the midlife crisis, and the “catawampus” that is economics.
...moreThis is Solidarity
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 […]
...moreA Disobedient Girl
A first novel about a Sri Lankan servant girl brings to life a vivid world of class differences, and restores dignity to characters who are often shoved to the sidelines.
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