Anar is one of Sri Lanka’s most celebrated poets. Urgent, embodied and shockingly direct, her work presses into service classical Tamil landscapes, contemporary feminist thought and Koranic imagery to explore the aftermath of the civil war and the subtle terrors of living as a woman in Sri Lanka today. New collection, Leaving, draws from Anar’s five award-winning collections to present a devastating poetic voice for our times. The collection is translated by Hari Rajaledchumy with Fran Lock.
From the harrowing aftermath of the civil war to the subtle terrors of societal expectation, the Anar chronicles female experiences in Sri Lanka today. Her poems avoid neat classifications such as narrative, allegory or lyric, instead, she combines genre and traditions as she sees fit to say whatever needs saying. Her poems draw on a diverse field of reference from classical Tamil mythic landscapes to contemporary feminist thought, from Koranic imagery to personal history.
Join Anar, Hari and Fran for readings in the original Tamil, the English translation of the poems, and discussions about the themes of Anar’s work, Tamil literature and the process of translating her poetry.
