Thursday, March 03, 2005

March 3, 2005

Wilmington, N.C. – The University of North Carolina Wilmington is hosting author Sorayya Khan as a part of the Women’s History Month celebrations. Her two-day visit includes a public lecture “Silence and Forgetting in War: The Story of Noor” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15 in Dobo Hall, Room 134. Faculty will lead a discussion immediately following the lecture; a reception and book signing concludes the public event. The lecture, discussion and reception are free and open to the public.

Khan speaks as a writer about the process of research and interviewing for her novel Noor, set in Pakistan following the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence, and possible connections to contexts of the U.S.’s current war, exploring consequences when individuals and societies speak (or don’t) of war. Noor is the story of a woman, Sajida; her daughter, Noor; a family; two national cultures; war; sublimated wounds of heart and mind; and the power of love and forgiveness.

Khan is an award-winning author and a U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar in Creative Writing, 1999-2000, in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia Regional Program. She has published in The Malahat Review, The Kenyon Review and the North American Review, among other publications.

Khan will visit classes in the English, political science and creative writing departments during her visit to UNCW. The dean of the college of arts and sciences will host a student scholar luncheon on Tuesday, March 15, bringing students together with UNCW Faculty Fulbright Scholars to highlight the Fulbright Scholarship Program.

The Office of the Dean; College of Arts and Sciences; the English, creative writing and political science departments; and the Women’s Resource Center are hosting Khan’s visit to UNC Wilmington.

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Media Contact: Cara Cilano, English, at 910/962-7546 for more information.