Shahrazad - Stories for life

‘He is justly recognised as a master of literary craft.’ Annie Proulx

Come along and find out more about one of the world’s finest writers, Michael Ondaatje, whose award winning novel The English Patient thrilled readers and cinema goers the world over (the film won nine Oscars in 1996).

Ondaatje’s Sri-Lankan and Canadian heritage give him a unique world view which is brilliantly displayed in his writing; so we are delighted that he is coming to read from his new novel The Cat’s Table, and talk about his life and work with novelist Kamila Shamsie.

Shamsie lives in London and Karachi, Pakistan, and is the author of four novels, including Kartography, and Broken Verses. As one of the few women to be writing in English about Pakistan and a trustee of English PEN, her intelligent and original viewpoint is courted by journalists the world over.

This event with Shamise and Ondaatje will be a fascinating and stimulating occasion you won’t want to miss.

Part of Writers’ Centre Norwich’s Worlds Literature Festival and a Refugee Week event.

Join us to hear two fantastic world voices in Norwich in celebration of Refugee Week and as part of the Worlds Literature Festival.

“An indelible novel. Does precisely what literature should do: it brings together thoughts and beliefs, and blurs borders…A compassionate and masterly work.” The New York Times

Teju Cole is a writer hitting the headlines for all the right reasons. His debut novel, Open City, follows a young doctor's meditations around the streets of New York and has been favourably compared to works such as Sebald's Rings of Saturn. It has been blazing an award-winning trail in its wake and was named a best book on no less than twenty end-of-the-year lists.

Teju will be joined by Vesna Goldsworthy. Vesna’s memoir entitled Chernobyl Strawberries, was serialized in The Times and read by Vesna herself as Book of the Week on BBC Radio Four.

Teju Cole and Vesna Goldsworthy explore ideas of exile, displacement and acceptance in their writing. Come along and hear them read from their work and take your questions in what promises to be a fascinating event.

Faraj Bayrakdar and Asieh Amini in conversation with Shenaz Kedar. Exiled writers from Syria and Iran discuss their work and the upheavals in the Middle East with the manager of Writers' Centre Norwich’s City of Refuge programme.

This Shahrazad event is part of the Hay festival, in partnership with Writers’ Centre Norwich.