Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Pakistani-born novelist recognized internationally for her prowess in detailing, among others, issues of abuse against women and immigration, will speak Oct. 15 and 16 at Mississippi State.
Bapsi Sidhwa, now of Houston, Texas, is scheduled to lead two public programs about her life and works: the first, beginning at 6 p.m. on the 15th in Lee Hall auditorium and the other at 12:30 p.m. on the 16th in the Honors Forum Room of Griffis Hall at the university's Northeast Village complex.
Her visit is being co-sponsored by MSU's Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and Shackouls Honors College.
Sidhwa, 69, has produced four novels in English. Each also reflect moving personal experiences of the Indian subcontinent's tragic India-Pakistan partition in the late 1940s and membership in the Parsi/Zoroastrian community.
"The Crow Eaters" (St. Martin's Press, 1982) and "The Bride" (St. Martin's, 1983) are her first major works; "Cracking India" (Milkweed Editions, 1991) and "An American Brat" (Milkweek, 1993), her later releases.
"Cracking India" was included as a New York Times Notable Book and recognized with a major German honor, both in 1991. It also was made into the film "Earth," which had a United States release in 1999.
Sidhwa has received numerous other recognitions over her career. Since moving to the U.S., she has held teaching positions at the University of Houston; Brandeis, Columbia and Rice universities; and Mt. Holyoke College.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Shaz Akram of the Holmes Center at 662-325-2033 or Nancy McCarley of the honors college at 325-2522.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.