Lee Siegel – Author of Love in a Dead Language at the SHFK
July 28th, 2009 | Published in Features, Storymoja Hay Festival 2009
Lee A. Siegel (born 1945, Los Angeles, California) is a novelist and professor of religion at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His 1999 novel, Love in a Dead Language, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a bestseller in India. It was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
He studied comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley and fine arts at Columbia University. He received his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford for a dissertation in the field of Sanskrit. He then was hired by the University of Hawaii as Professor of Religious Studies, where he has taught ever since.
His articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, History of Religions, the [London] Times Literary Supplement. He wrote, directed, and performed in an eight-episode educational television series, Mask and Mystery.
In addition Professor Siegel has been two Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching (1986 and 1996). He has been a scholar-in-residence at the Rockefeller Foundation, and twice at the Bellagio Study Center (1990 and 2003). He also was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College of Oxford University (1997).
He recently participated in several panels of prestigious authors through the Iowa Writing Program for workshops at the University of Nairobi and KU. He was later asked to guest lecture at UoN.
Dr. Siegel will be at the Storymoja Hay Festival for the following sessions:
Friday 31st August, 2009, at 12 pm– 1:30pm CRIME AND PASSION IN FICTION w/ Tony Kan, Chika Unigwe, Moraa Gitaa, Onduko Bwa’Atebe and Lee Siegel, moderated by Doreen Baingana in the British Council Pavilion
Fiction leads us into usually unfamiliar worlds that both repel and thrill us. This conversation brings together writers who explore the dangerous side of human nature: the lives of prostitutes (Nigerian award winning writer Chika Unigwe), criminals (Kenyan writers Onduko Bwa’Atebe and Moraa Gitaa) and Lee Siegel and Nigerian writer Tony Kan).
Saturday 1st August, 2009 at 10am – 11:30am: French Writer François Devenne and American Writer Lee Siegel in conversation with Zimbabwean Writer Petina Gappah
The French author of “Three Dreams on Mt. Meru” and American author of “Love in a Dead Langauge,” among other books, have written books that reveal a fascination with cultures beyond their own. François Devenne’s book is about a Swahili boy from Mombasa who travels to Mt. Meru on an epic quest. Lee Siegel’s book, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, is about an American professor and translator of the Kama Sutra who falls in love with his Indian-American student. Writer Petina Gappah will discuss these books and the writers’ fascination with “the other.”
Excerpt from Love in a Dead Language by Lee Siegel
I was standing in the supermarket aisle marked “Health and Beauty” when I saw Her out of the corner of my eye. Yet again it was as if some yogic power or constellationary fate was at work to bring us together once more that day. I hastily put the hair coloring back and rushed to “Liquor” to replace the symbol of anxiety in my basket with one of joy—an overpriced bottle of 1987 Chateau d’Amour rosé champagne. Like a hunter after prey, I snuck down “Automotive Needs and Feminine Hygiene,” up “Frozen Foods” and, sighting her by “Bread,” I pretended to be surprised.
“Oh, hello! Ms. ah, ah, Das Gupta, isn’t it?”
“No, just Gupta,” She smiled carelessly, hardly taking Her dark, scanning eyes from the loaves, buns, and rolls.
“Remember me?” I asked. “Professor Roth.”
“Oh yeah, sure—you’re my astronomy teacher.”
“No, no—Asian studies,” I answered with a bruised heart. “Indian Civilization.”
Love in a Dead Language by Lee Siegel, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©1999 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the University of Chicago Press.
Dr. Siegel’s Books.
Love in a Dead Language:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/756971.html
Love and the Incredibly Old Man:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/757056.html
Who Wrote the Book of Love:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/757005.html
Tickets are available from Storymoja as well as all leading book stores ( Booksfirst, Silverbird (formerly NuMetro), Savanis, Book Stop Yaya, Sarit Info Desk). Contact info@storymojaafrica.co.ke for more details about tickets. For information about the dates, venue and guests see here…
