Literary evening - trauma in literature

Saturday, 12 May, from 4.30 - 7.00 pm at Cinnamon Grand’s Angsana Meeting Room (Echo Restaurant Entrance) promises to be an exciting get-together as Samutthana (the King’s College London Resource Centre for Trauma, Displacement and Mental Health) invites you to be part of an audience of like-minded enthusiasts exploring the complexities of trauma as portrayed in Literature.

Erudite panelists Savithri Rodrigo (media personality) and Shehara De Silva (business consultant) will be ‘taking on’ popular Sri Lankan writers Ashok Ferrey (author) and Vivimarie Vanderpoorten (poet) in trying to understand the links between trauma and literature.

The evening will include readings by the two writers followed by scintillating panel discussions revolving around particular themes such as:  Can language ever describe or communicate a traumatic experience - the experiences of war, torture or acute emotional distress? We try to write about such things but do the words truly capture the intensity and significance of trauma? Can we say, then, that literature is both impotent in the face of trauma and defined by the challenge it represents? Or does literature aim to give suffering meaning?

The restorative healing and sensitising power of literature cannot be undermined. Let’s hear your views on this! Trauma can be an intensively personal experience or a community suffering together – as seen so often in Sri Lanka’s history.

All are welcome. Entrance by programme is Rs. 500. Please contact Nivendra on 0777 346 334 for reservations.