Aranya Doloi
read
That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet. – Jhumpa Lahiri
Indian-American Lahiri, the Pulitzer winning author, will head the creative writing program at the Princeton University after she was named the director of The Lewis Center for the Arts.
Jhumpa Lahiri has been a professor of creative writing at the university since 2015, and now she succeeded U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Smith called Lahiri’s presence in the classroom truly “galvanizing and empowering”. She said, “Our community is enriched by her commitments to the development of student writers, the practice of translation, and the wealth of literature being written in languages other than English. Jhumpa has also engaged in conversations around the intersection of literature and other art forms and disciplines. Under her directorship, the creative writing program will enter an urgent and meaningful new phase”.
We’re so proud to have Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and professor Jhumpa Lahiri take helm of @Princeton’s Program in Creative Writing! #PrincetonArts https://t.co/D6PWfnizMB pic.twitter.com/lxPyIqXBDW
— Princeton Arts (@princetonarts) August 27, 2019
Princeton University is also celebrating its creative program’s 80th anniversary in 2019-20 with appearances by 80 writers over the course of the coming academic year. Lahiri heaped praises on the university’s diversity as she said, “At a time when words are used to falsify and divide, I am proud and inspired to direct a diverse and inclusive creative writing program that unites Princeton students with some of the world’s finest writers. Never before has our faculty represented such a multitude of cultures, languages, and perspectives. This year not only marks the 80th anniversary of the program, but our continued determination to redefine the literary landscape.” Earlier the author taught creative writing at Boston University, Barnard College, The New School, and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her debut story collection ‘Interpreter of Maladies’. The author is celebrated for her depiction of immigration and Indian-American life, and was even awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama in 2014.