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Join us for an afternoon with author Ravina Aggarwal; she’ll discuss her new title ‘Searching for the Songbird', answer questions, and sign copies of her book!
Registration required.
Books will be available for purchase, with proceeds being donated to AAPI Montclair.
In celebration of Black History Month, author Ravina Aggarwal will discuss her novel, Searching for the Songbird (winner of the Green Literature Festival and World Wildlife Fund of India’s 2023 Book of the Year Award for Children’s Environmental Fiction). Set in one of the most significant social, environmental, and political landscapes in the world -- the Himalayan mountains in India -- the novel is an intricately layered mystery about our relationship to the environment and ways of coping with caste and gender discrimination. It traces the disappearance of a woman called ‘Songbird’ and the journey undertaken by twelve-year-old Johnny and three of his friends to find her. Using symbolic and real birds, it invites us to conquer our inner fears, engage constructively with social difference, and develop an intimacy with the songs and sounds of mountains.
The conversation will be moderated by Natasha Mathias, a pediatric dentist and activist.
About the Author
Ravina Aggarwal is a writer and sociocultural anthropologist who has done extensive research in the Himalayan region. Her areas of research include peace-building, environmental sustainability, cultural studies, gender, and development. Ravina received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Indiana University and was a professor at Smith College, Massachusetts, after which she moved to India to join the Ford Foundation. Until recently, she directed Columbia University’s global center in South Asia. She now lives in Verona with her family.
Ravina’s publications include the Beyond Lines of Control: Performing the Border in Ladakh, India, Into the High Ranges: The Penguin Book of Mountain Writing and Forsaking Paradise: Stories from Ladakh. Searching for the Songbird (Zubaan Books, 2022) is her first novel.
Presented by AAPI Montclair and the Montclair Public Library
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