From Lhasa to Darjeeling to America: Tibetan American Memoir Writing

Main event organizer: Modern Tibetan Studies

Speaker name(s) and affiliation: Ann Tashi Slater, Japan Women’s University

Discussant name and affiliation: Riga Shakya, Columbia University

Event summary:

Author Ann Tashi Slater will read from “Mountains, Monasteries, and Myths: What I Discovered While Living in My Darjeeling Family Home” (Catapult). This piece looks at her journey from her American childhood to her discovery of her Tibetan family’s rich history. Slater’s story provides intimate glimpses of the personal and political connections between Tibetan societies in Darjeeling and Lhasa at the turn of the 20th century. After the reading, she will talk about her family history, her Tibetan American identity, and exploring the self through writing.

Speaker bio (if applicable):

Ann Tashi Slater’s work has been published by The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Tin House, Catapult, AGNI, Granta, and the HuffPost, among others. Her writing also appears in American Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American Voices (HarperCollins) and Women in Clothes (Riverhead). She writes often on subjects related to Tibet and her Tibetan family history. Current projects include a memoir about a mother-daughter pilgrimage to her ancestral homeland that explores identity and family legacy, dialogue across generations and borders, and the responsibility of individual and collective memory. A longtime resident of Tokyo, Slater is Professor of American Literature at Japan Women’s University. (www.anntashislater.com)

Registration information: No registration required

Full list of cosponsors: Diasporic Asian American Writers Series, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity