Harvard University: Poetry Reading at ‘Out of Sri Lanka’ Book Launch

Readings and Guest Lectures

Harvard University: Poetry Reading at ‘Out of Sri Lanka’ Book Launch

Chamini Kulathunga 4 months ago

On Friday, November 3, from 5-7 pm in the Thompson Room in the Barker Center, two of the anthology’s co-editors, Shash Trevett and Vidyan Ravinthiran (who teaches in our English Department), will host two poets and a translator from the anthology: V.V. Ganeshananthan, Cheran, and Chamini Kulathunga. Books will be on sale. This event is supported by the English Department’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Initiative.

See more: Harvard English

“Even within South Asia, Sri Lanka occupies a minority state in terms of both its geography and population. From a translator’s perspective, I couldn’t help but notice that the rate of Sri Lankan contemporary literature that is being circulated (in translation or in the original language/s) and read around the world is comparably lower than the national literatures of many other countries. It is also studied and anthologized much less often than other national literatures of the world. We talk about the infamous “3% factor” of annual literary translation publications in the US, but we’ve hardly ever seen or heard about a translation from the Sinhalese making it to the languages that contribute to that percentage, right”

-Interview with Project Plume