Join us for an evening of readings, performances and short talks celebrating the creativity of migrant authors over the centuries
Reflecting the work of Surrey’s ‘Mobilities’ research centre, and developed in collaboration with the literary magazine the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and migrant literature, this event will focus on how displaced writers integrate themselves into unfamiliar surroundings and societies, establishing new communities and connections.
The material presented will be both historical and contemporary, ranging from Lord Byron in the early nineteenth century to Jhumpa Lahiri in the present day. The evening will conclude with in-person readings by Melanie Hyo-In Han, Arbër Qerka-Gashi and Anitha Sundararajan.
This event is part of a series run by University of Surrey.
About the authors
Melanie Hyo-In Han is author of My Dearest Yeast and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips, whose poetry similarly explores themes of diaspora, transnationalism and ‘hyphenated’ identity. Currently undertaking a Creative Writing PhD at Surrey, Melanie writes from and about the Korean American diasporic experience, as well as about her personal experience of creative relocation from East Africa, where she grew up, to the USA and Britain.
Arbër Qerka-Gashi and Anitha Sundararajan have both published work in the literary magazine the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and migrant literature.
Arbër is the founder of the digital educational platform Balkanism and co-founder of the events organisation the Balkan London Collective; his recent work has addressed both the story of his’s Kosovan parents’ journey of asylum to London and contemporary multicultural London as seen through the lens of inter-generational experiences and memories.
Anitha is a writer from Chennai, India, now living in London. She writes around the intersection of her Tamil and English identities, using this duality to shape the language of her stories. She is doing a Master's in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, and her recent work is about how individual and collective memories fuse to tell a migration story, where the lines between the real and the imagined are blurred.
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This event is being held at Zero Carbon Guildford. The venue includes accessible toilets, welcomes assistance dogs, pushchair/pram friendly, seating, step-free access and is wheelchair accessible.
Find us
168 High Street, Guildford