Celebrated author Salman Rushdie will visit the University of Vermont for a sold-out talk on the power of storytelling on Wednesday, January 14.Rushdie’s lecture, which will be live-streamed online, will occur at UVM’s Ira Allen Chapel at 5 pm. His talk, titled “What’s The Use Of Stories That Aren't Even True?,” will include questions submitted from UVM students, and a book signing by the author.
The event is presented by UVM and the Vermont Humanities Council (VHC), which recently picked Rushdie’s 1990 children’s book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, for its statewide Vermont Reads program.
“Mr. Rushdie is one of the great writers of our time,” said Professor Major Jackson, UVM poet and VHC board chairperson, who will emcee the event. “We are fortunate and excited to be able to bring him to Burlington to share his career and inspire our students, faculty, staff and people of Vermont.”
The event is the culmination of a conversation between Jackson and Rushdie at a writers’ festival in Jamaica. “Writers get excited by a readership, particularly for certain books that are meaningful for us,” said Jackson. “When I told him Haroun was on the Vermont Reads shortlist, he accepted our invitation without hesitation.”
Haroun and the Sea of Stories was written as a bedtime story for Rushdie’s son. It contains veiled allusions to the controversy that followed his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, including a death fatwa issued by Iran’s ayatollah. Rushdie was forced into hiding for nine years in Great Britain, and has lived in New York since 2000.
This will be one of Rushdie’s first appearances since he condemned the recent Paris gun attacks, which left more than 12 people dead. “I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity,” he wrote in The Guardian.
Rushdie has written 12 books, including the Booker Prize-winning Midnight’s Children. His most recent book is Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life following the controversy over The Satanic Verses.
Lecture and book signing
- Where: Ira Allen Chapel, 26 University Place, Burlington, VT.
- When: Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 5 p.m. Doors open at 3:45. Ticket holders must be seated by 4:40 p.m. due to limited capacity.
- Tickets: All tickets have been distributed
- Standby seating: Non-ticket holders must enter from the back door of Ira Allen Chapel by the Votey parking lot and go to Billings-Ira Allen Lecture Hall 101 to get a number for standby seats. If anyone in the standby waiting area does not get seats, they can watch the lecture via live stream in the lecture hall.
- Special needs: To request interpreting services, etc., please contact Conference and Event Services at [email protected] or (802) 656-5665 in advance of the event.
Live streaming
Watch the event online live at: http://www.uvm.edu/president/rushdie/. Following the event, the lecture will be posted online for on-demand streaming.
Source: UVM 1.12.2015.
Vermont Humanities Council website: http://www.vermonthumanities.org
Salman Rushdie at UVM: http://www.uvm.edu/president/rushdie/