English PEN x Gower Street present: Hina Belitz, Meena Kandasamy & Intan Paramaditha

In collaboration with English PEN, we are bringing together three writers challenging expectations of Asian women – and challenging the form of the novel itself.

Chaired by Hannah Trevarthen, authors Hina Belitz, Meena Kandasamy and Intan Paramaditha will discuss their inventive uses of form, normalising Asian stories, and examine the freedom afforded by personal writing versus the expectations of Asian writers worldwide.

Hina Belitz’s feel-good novel To Lahore, With Love (Headline) follows Irish-Pakistani Addy as she unearths a family secret and grapples with two sides of her upbringing. Hina is passionate about normalising Asian stories – especially within the women’s fiction sphere – and breaking out of existing common misconceptions.

Meena Kandasamy’s experimental novella Exquisite Cadavers (Atlantic) challenges the form of the novel, with its energetic tale of modern love in a bustling urban capital and the conflicts that arise from clashing cultures. Her Women’s Prize-shortlisted When I Hit You presents a woman in contemporary Indian society.

Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha’s ingenious and unusual novel The Wandering (VINTAGE) – through which the reader chooses their own story –  the highs and lows of global nomadism, the politics and privileges of travel and desire, and the freedoms and limitations of the choices we make.

Join them for readings, discussion, and audience Q&A.

Tickets are £10 / £8 Students and Plus cardholders, including a drink