Tomorrow - SAWCC Lit Festival at Revolution Books!

Please join us tomorrow for the SAWCC Literary Festival! The panels begin tomorrow at 1 pm and go throughout the day. The entire conversation will be about political change and social justice through literature. There are wonderful panelists on board and there will be a "rapid fire" reading at 6 pm at Bar 13. I've very much looking forward to it and hope to see many of you there!

Here is the line-up, taken straight off the SAWCC website:

Saturday, Sept. 24, 1-4:30pm

Panel discussions

at Revolution Books
Free
1-2pm: Sparking Revolution: Engaging Youth through Literature
- Neesha Meminger (author, Jazz in Love)
- Jyotsna Sreenivasan (GenderEqualBooks.com)
- Marina Budhos (author, Tell Us We’re Home)
Moderated by Yesha Naik (YA/children’s librarian, Brooklyn Public Library)

2:15-3:15pm: Writing about Human Rights
- Monisha Bajaj (author, Schooling for Social Change)
- Nisha Varia (Human Rights Watch)
- V.V. Ganeshananthan (author, Love Marriage)
- Maniza Naqvi (author, On Air and Sarajevo Saturdays)
Moderated by Sunu Chandy (lawyer and poet)

3:30-4:30pm: The Personal Is Political: Writing about Social Justice in the Home
- Priyanka Motaparthy (Human Rights Watch)
- Fawzia Afzal-Khan (author, Lahore With Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani Style)
- Zohra Saed (co-editor, One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature)
Moderated by Purvi Shah (author, Terrain Tracks)

Saturday, Sept. 24, 6-8pm

Rapid-Fire Reading: South Asian women perform poetry, fiction, and spoken-word on the themes of rights, radicalism, and revolution. Featuring Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Sita Bhaskar, Marina Budhos, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Neesha Meminger, Yesha Naik, Vani Natarajan, Purvi Shah, Jyotsna Sreenivasan, and Mathangi Subramanian.

at Bar 13
35 East 13th Street (at University Pl.)
New York, NY 10003
$5 at the door
(21+ only)

Open Fire

It's been a tough summer. We lost a loved one after she fought a battle with cancer and there is a quiet sadness that brackets our days here in the Meminger home. But it also makes us grateful and deeply appreciative of the ones we love who are still here. By the way, can I just say how sick I am of cancer? Seriously. It has been popping up way too much lately.

In any case, I am glad to get back into a busy rhythm of school, writing, and reading again. Who'd have thunk I'd be relieved to get back to the mundane rituals of daily life? :) I am also working super hard on my next novel, which is set to release in March, 2012. I've had a quick peek at the first drafts of the cover and I am *loving* it.

One of the events I have coming up is the SAWCC literary festival. I'll be on a panel with Marina Budhos and Jyotsna Sreenivasan, talking about YA novels and politics. Can't wait. If you're in New York on the 24th, please stop by Revolution Books. Our panel is from 1-2pm, but there will be others throughout the day, followed by readings in the evening.

October is birthday month, so I'm hoping I haven't scheduled anything for then, but November is another busy month. I'll be in Chicago (where I get to meet Ari of Reading In Color, Edi Campbell of the Crazy Quilts blog, and Maggie Desmond O'Brien of Bibliophilia!) for the ALAN workshops on the 21st and 22nd.

Hope everyone had a great summer and is off to a smooth start for the fall.