Infinite Remembering: Poetry beyond love and war

Описание: Speakers: Shash Trevett and Vidyan Ravinthiran in conversation with Neil Astley

Sri Lanka has thrilled the foreign imagination as a land of infinite possibility.

Portuguese, Dutch and British colonisers envisioned an island of gems and pearls, a stopping-point on the Silk Road; tourists today are sold a vision of golden beaches and swaying palm trees, delicious food and smiling locals.

However, these views favour the south of the island over the north, and erase a history of war crimes, assassinations of activists and journalists, subjugation of minorities, and a legacy of governmental corruption that has led the country into economic and social crisis.

A sense of irreconcilability, as well as infinite possibility, haunts the place. Now three fine poets from diverse backgrounds - Vidyan Ravinthiran, Shash Trevett and Seni Seneviratne - have poured their empathy and expertise into putting together a truly astonishing anthology that allows migrational writers who do not even identify as ‘Sri Lankan’ to figure alongside consciously national voices.

Join our panel of literature experts, who will introduce and lead this discussion on Out of Sri Lanka, the first ever anthology of Sri Lankan and diasporic poetry, which features over 300 poems written in English, or translated from Tamil and Sinhala.

Hear excerpts read by some of the poets, and find out how this diverse collection brings to light a long-neglected national literature and reshapes our understanding of migrational poetics and the poetics of atrocity.

From explorations of critical events such as the 2004 tsunami and its aftermath to poems about love, art and nature - Out of Sri Lanka permits a rediscovery of a literature of place; reimagines the literature of place beyond the national; and rebuilds via the forceful hope of imagination, whatever shocks may continue to occur in this geo-politically intriguing location.

This event is facilitated by Anthony Vahni Capildeo FRSL, Writer in Residence at the University of York.