Events

Current and Upcoming

Exile, Writing, and Home / Bhuchung D. Sonam

October 11, 2024
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
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Hybrid: International Affairs Building, Room 918. Zoom registration below.

Registration is required for non CUID cardholders to access the Morningside campus. Attendees must present a government-issued ID with their name matching exactly the name registered for the event, along with a one-time QR code (via email), for entry. For non CUID cardholders, please register by 4 pm on Oct. 10 for entry onto campus.

For a list of entries onto campus, please click here.

Speaker: Bhuchung D Sonam, Tibetan poet, writer, translator and publisher.

Moderator: Lauran Hartley, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

For Tibetan writers, exile, writing, and home are deeply intertwined concepts. Forced into the space of others, exiles often find that their displacement, despite its unimaginable hardships, becomes fertile ground for creative expression. Through their work - both in English or Tibetan - they examine the idea of home, cultural dislocation and their sense of self. Is home simply an imagined aspiration or a concrete space to fight for? Do these writers write merely to find solace, or does the act of writing serve a greater purpose?

Speaker’s Bio: Bhuchung D Sonam is an exile Tibetan poet, writer, translator and publisher. His books include Songs from Dewachen, Songs of the Arrow and Yak Horns: Notes on Contemporary Tibetan Writing, Music and Film & Politics. He has edited Muses in Exile: An Anthology of Tibetan Poetry, and has compiled and translated Burning the Sun’s Braids: New Poetry from Tibet. He is a founding member and editor of TibetWrites and its imprint Blackneck Books, which promotes and publishes the creative works of Tibetans. His writings are published in the Washington Post, Asahi Weekly, Journal of Indian Literature, HIMAL Southasian and Hindustan Times among others. In June 2022, he was awarded the Ostana Prize Youth Award in the category of ‘Writings in Mother Tongue for his literary contributions. He has taken part in the Bangalore Poetry Festival, Sahityotsav 2023 – A Festival of Letters and the
Jaipur Literature Festival (2024).

Registration:

  • To attend this event in-person, please register HERE.
  • To attend this event online, please register HERE.

Contact Information

Lauran Hartley