Saturday, April 29: Non-fiction writer Sayantani Dasgupta and memoirist Elizabeth Sloan, both Idaho residents, are joined by Denver-based poet and UM alumna Alicia Mountain. 1pm.
"Sayantani Dasgupta brings together past and present as she considers childhood, violence, safety, family, monsters, goddesses, and the concept of home. These beautiful essays move between India and America, between selves and versions of selves, as Sayantani considers what is real and what is story or indeed, how the two are ever different." — Bich Minh Nguyen, author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner
Sayantani Dasgupta is an essayist, a short story writer, and the author of collection of essays Fire Girl: Essays on India, America & the In-Between, which is a finalist for the Foreword Indies Book of the Year, and the chapbook The House of Nails: Memories of a New Delhi Childhood.
Born in Calcutta and raised in New Delhi, Sayantani received a BA in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, an MA in Medieval History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, , New Delhi, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho. She has lived in the United States since 2006.
"With innovative narrative structure and a lively cast of characters, Elizabeth Sloan's When Songbirds Returned to Paris weaves a powerful family history set against the backdrop of world war. Sloan's impressive research reminds us that with enough digging, remarkable, true stories can rise from the dead." – Buddy Levy, author of Geronimo, Conquistador, and River of Darkness
When Germany invades France in 1940, Cecily Lefort can’t imagine how the aristocratic comforts of life as a French doctor’s wife are about to disappear. A return to native England eventually leads Cecily back to France, this time as a secret agent. Cecily is one of 13 female Special Operations Executive (SOE) spies who do not survive to tell their story. The intuitive conversation between Elizabeth and Cecily–based on war documents, letters, and interviews–spins an international web of intrigue that captures the raw emotions of love and war.
Elizabeth Sloan lives in Moscow, Idaho, where she writes, makes book art, and works as a university instructor. She’s an enthusiastic presenter of art and writing workshops—most notably on Book Art and “Writing from Photo to Finish.”
Alicia Mountain is a PhD candidate at the University of Denver. Her work has been well received since finishing the MFA program at UM, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her manuscript was a semifinalist for the St. Lawrence Book Award and was a notable manuscript for the BOAAT Book Prize. Her poems have been published in Prairie Schooner, jubilat, Guernica, Pleiades, Witness, and elsewhere. She has received an Academy of American Poets College Prize and an Idyllwild Arts Fellowship.