The Princeton Migrations Series will present two discussion and conversations with Jhumpa Lahiri on March 1 and March 5 at Labyrinth Books. Both events require (free) tickets.

Lahiri will talk with Neel Mukherjee about his novel A State of Freedom, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 1. The event is co-sponsored by the Lewis Center for the Arts.

According to novelist A.M. Homes, “A State of Freedom is a novel like no other — its prose is so rich, unequivocally precise and graceful that it allows Mukherjee to illustrate the most horrific of experiences with stunning compassion. A State of Freedom is more than a novel — it is an immersive experience. He writes like a painter, his language is his palette, one reminiscent of the late Howard Hodgkin’s. Mukherjee brings to life the variation of India’s cities and towns in a dense multi-layered world where modern life, by accident or intention, tears at traditions that are centuries old. Throughout we are reminded of how little power many have over their lives and of emotional and financial economies so fragile that something as small as a single egg can carry great weight.”

Neel Mukherjee is the author of A Life Apart, winner of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for best fiction, among other honors, and The Lives of Others, that was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Encore Prize. Jhumpa Lahiri is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, and Unaccustomed Earth, among other books. Her works originally written in Italian are In Other Words and The Clothing of Books.

———

On Monday, March 5, at 6 p.m. Jhumpa Lahiri will be conversing with her co-translator Alessandro Giammei about and reading from Domenico Starnone’s Trick, of which novelist and Princeton faculty member Jeffrey Eugenides says, “A maestro translated by a maestra. What more could anyone want?” According to Huffington Post (Italy) “Family ties and family dramas are at the core of this story, but both are written about with such stylistic elegance that readers will be astonished. Once again, Starnone gets it just right. Trick is a must-read

Domenico Starnone is an Italian writer, screenwriter, and journalist. He was born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of 13 works of fiction, including First Execution and Via Gemito, winner of Italy’s most prestigious literary prize, the Strega. Works by Lahiri originally written in Italian are In Other Words and The Clothing of Books. Her most recent translation is of Starnone’s previous book, Ties; she teaches creative writing at the Lewis Center for the Arts. Alessandro Giammei is lecturer in the Humanities Council and French and Italian as well as fellow in the Society of Fellows at Princeton University.

The Princeton Migrations Series is a community-wide investigation of the theme of migration taking place throughout the region from February through May. The project includes exhibitions, readings, lectures, film screens, and performances by more than 20 community partners and a host of campus organizations and departments. More information at princetonmigrations.org

The March 5 event is co-sponsored by Dorothea’s House and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.