Just about everyone has experienced a situation where he or she feels totally out of place. Whether it's as simple as starting at a new school without many friends or it involves moving to another country, most can relate to the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land.
Jhumpa Lahiri is an author who has captured that feeling on the pages of her books, including Interpreter of Maladies, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. She has received many other honors for her writing, including the PEN/Hemingway Award, an O. Henry Prize, and the Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
On Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts, Lahiri will be joining the prominent group of people that have participated in UB's Distinguished Speaker Series. Some people may know her through her book Namesake, which was turned into a movie of the same name and directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn.
Lahiri was born in London to Bengali Indian immigrants and later became an immigrant to the U.S. when she was three. Much of her writing is taken from her and her parents' experiences as outsiders.
In addition to all of her literary honors, Lahiri was appointed to President Barack Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities last year.
With UB ID, undergraduate students are eligible for free tickets to this event in the Student Association office at 350 Student Union, and GSA-represented grad students can get their free tickets at the SBI Ticket Office at 221 SU while supplies last.
As UB has one of the highest rates of international students at a public university, Lahiri's visit may help to bring a new perspective to all students, foreign and domestic.
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