Class Visits: Launch of 'Mothersland'
Monday, November 18, 2024 12:00 PM to 2:45 PM EST
West Building, 1004
Join Prof. Leeya Mehta's 12 noon or 1:30 noon class with visiting writer Shahzoda Nazarova and translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega on Nov 18th. RSVP and note which class you will attend. This class is open to the public.
Exiled writer Shahzoda Nazarova (pen name “Samarqandi”) comes from the minority Tajik-speaking community in Uzbekistan. The feminist focus of her writing and her job with the BBC obliged her to flee her native land for the Netherlands, where she still lives and writes. Nazarova has published three collections of poetry and several acclaimed novels. Her writing has earned her criticism, even death threats, and has been banned in Uzbekistan for its feminist focus and frank discussions of sexuality and politically charged topics.
Shahzoda will be in conversation with her translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega, and Prof. Leeya Mehta.
AUTHOR
Shahzoda Nazarova Samarqandi
Shahzoda Samarqandi was born in Samarqand, Uzbekistan. Her taboo-breaking novels have brought her international recognition. After working for Tajik-language newspapers and television as well as the BBC Persian service, Samarqandi moved to the Netherlands, where she served as an editor for Central Asia and Afghanistan at Radio Zamaneh, and has worked to protect female activists and journalists in Afghanistan.
TRANSLATOR
Shelley Fairweather-Vega
Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a professional translator specializing in new prose and poetry from Central Asia. She lives in Seattle, Washington.
This project was supported, in part, by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which receives support from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
