By Paul Falardeau (Contributor) – Email
Date Posted: October 18, 2011
Print Edition: October 12, 2011
In one week, on October 20, UFV will present its first South Asian Literary Colloquium, an event that hopes to shine a light on the research and activities happening at UFV by staff and students in the field of South Asian studies. The event, which will have the full name, “Greeting the Light: UFV South Asian Literary Colloquium,” is sponsored by the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies, the English department, the college of arts and the UFV research office. Greeting the Light will be an hour long lunch time event, running from noon to 1 p.m. and will feature readings followed by a Q&A and light refreshments.
The colloquium will focus on South Asia through a mainly literary and academic lens. Its organizers ask students and staff to “learn about recent and ongoing UFV research into the contemporary literatures and cultural relevance of the world’s other rapidly transforming ancient civilization.” South Asia is of course just that, a very old world that is quickly becoming of vast importance again to the new world.
To elucidate this, Greeting the Light will include Satwinder Bains, head of the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies and a fixture in UFV’s study tours to India. Furthermore, UFV’s two new hires in South Asian and Diaspora literatures, Rajnish Dhawan and Prabhjot Parmar will be on hand to tell the crowd about their studies and plans for UFV. Chris Levenson, a poet and frequent traveller to India will also be on hand to share poems written on his experiences there. Finally, Trevor Carolan from the English department will feature his new book, The Lotus Singers: Contemporary Stories from South Asia (Cheng & Tsui, 2011), a UFV-supported research initiative that collects short stories from around India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Afterwards, during a brief Q&A, guests will have the opportunity to ask any questions they please to the panel concerning their work and presentations and then mingle afterwards over refreshments. Overall, the format is to be similar to that of the event held last year featuring CBC newswoman Gloria Macarenko. The event will take place in University House in room F125 and is free for all to attend. It is certain to be a great way to have lunch, meet some interesting people and learn something new about your campus and your world.
