The second Lancaster International Fiction Lecture, a joint venture between Litfest and the Department of Languages & Cultures and the Department of English Literature & Creative Writing at Lancaster University, will be given by Geetanjali Shree whose novel written in Hindi and translated into English by Daisy Rockwell won this year’s International Booker Prize.

Fiction is an artform shared by almost all languages. Right now, the English-speaking world – thanks to translators and innovative publishers – has become more aware of the extraordinary fiction that has been and is being written everywhere and in all languages. So it seemed to us that a lecture to discuss and celebrate fiction as an international artform could not be more timely.

Borders have loomed large in Geetanjali’s life, and so it’s not surprising that her prize-winning novel, Tomb of Sand, should be an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders. It is also extremely funny and utterly original.

In her lecture called ‘Writing in Troubled Times’ Geetanjali Shree will explore the theme of writing fiction in troubled times, times in which the separation between the personal and the political, the home and the world becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.

“The resultant tension,” she says, “may be a source of inspiration, but it is also a huge pressure on the writer. Constantly the writer has to negotiate between the need for a space of solitude and the intrusion of an invasive noisy world. I will bring in my society and culture in some of its specificities to illustrate these concerns. And, of course, to reiterate the need to guard the space of literature against non-literary proscriptions and intrusions.”

You can register here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/intfictionlecture/register

Geetanjali Shree is the author of five novels and several story collections. Her work has been translated into English, French, German, Serbian and Korean. She was born in Mainpuri, India, in 1957. Tomb of Sand is the first of her books to be published in the UK. She has received and been shortlisted for a number of awards and fellowships, and currently lives in New Delhi.

Supported by the Departments of English Literature & Creative Writing and Languages & Cultures at Lancaster University.