Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Women writers celebrated at Leeds Met
The series, 'Conversations with Contemporary Women Writers' will include poets, novelists and authors of both literary and popular fiction. Professor Manju Jaidka will begin the series at 5.30pm at Broadcasting Place room G10, reading from her recent novel, 'Scandal Point', set in 1892 in colonial India.
Manju is a Professor at the Department of English and Cultural Studies at Panjab University, India. A recipient of a University Grants Commission (UGC) Text Book Award in 1994, she has also received several international fellowships including a Fulbright Research Grant to Harvard and Yale Universities in 1990-91. Professor Jaidka has also authored the novel, 'Spots of Time', and a play, 'The Seduction and Betrayal of Cat Whiskers', as well literary criticism on Indian and American literature.
Dr Susan Watkins, Reader in the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Met, commented: "'I'm really excited about our series of 'Conversations' with contemporary women writers. I don't think that distinctions between 'literary' and 'popular' fiction are important. We want to celebrate all kinds of women writers who are writing now and so we have put together a diverse programme from our first speaker, Professor Manju Jaidka, whose novel is set in colonial India, to poets like Maggie Butt and Shamshad Khan, as well as historical fiction novelist Elizabeth Chadwyck."
The Leeds Metropolitan University book club will also be exploring the theme of contemporary women's writing over the summer. Organised by Senior Academic Librarian, Helen Loughran, the book club is open to members of the public as well as students and staff of the University.
Starting in May and throughout the summer period, the book club will be reading a selection of texts by contemporary women writers, including some much-loved as well as some exciting new writers.
For more information about the series, and to reserve a place at the talk on Tuesday 12 March, please contact Dr Susan Watkins at s.watkins@leedsmet.ac.uk or on 0113 812 3375.