17/11/2023
๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด
Shivani Sivagurunathan in conversation with Devina Sivagurunathan
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ: ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐, ๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ก๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฏ
๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ: ๐ณ.๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฝ๐บ
๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ: ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐, ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฒ, ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ถ, ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ง๐ผ๐๐ป.
As a poet, author of fiction and professor of English, Dr Shivani Sivagurunathan has dedicated her life to the written word. In an informal chat with her Devina (sister, bookworm and literary agent) sheโll be talking about:
โข Her childhood influences on her writing and career,
โข Her journey as a Malaysian writer writing in Malaysia about Malaysia,
โข How her writing has influenced her teaching,
โข The challenges of being a multi-genre writer โ moving between poetry and prose,
โข Making a living out of writing (from an academic perspective),
โข Her observations on current Malaysian writing in English.
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ
Shivani Sivagurunathan has been writing and publishing fiction and poetry for twenty years. She is the author of four books including, Wildlife on Coal Island (Harper Collins, India), Yalpanam (Penguin SEA), Being Born (Maya Press) and What Has Happened to Harry Pillai? (Clarity Publishing).
Her writing has always been grounded in a Malaysian context and supported by a metaphysical foundation โ it combines the local and the concrete with the universal and the abstract, reminiscent of the South American magical realist writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
She is currently an Assistant Professor and Head of School at the School of English, University of Nottingham, Malaysia.
๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ
Devina Sivagurunathan is Shivaniโs elder sister which over-qualifies her for the moderatorโs role (with enough wine she may even share some juicy gossip). She is also a partner at Sivagurunathan & Chua Literary Agency.
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FREE ADMISSION
As seating at HIKAYAT is limited please register (DM us your name, number of pax), please donโt do the Malaysian thing of not registering and then turning up and expecting a seat (โDonโt you know who I am??). Itโs really not cool and itโs not fair to the lovely people at HIKAYAT who are kindly hosting us. So letโs all be thoughtful and organised ya? ;)
