Writing Through Change
Posted in Symposia
Lannan Literary Festival: March 24, 26, 31, 2026
From the health of our bodies to the borders of our nation states, change defines the arc of
human existence.
This year’s Lannan Literature Festival explores how literature becomes our compass through
transformation—whether born of illness and health, displacement, environmental shifts, or
evolving beliefs. Change is often resisted, but may also be embraced, and the stories we tell
become bridges between who we were and who we are becoming.
Join us for an extraordinary week featuring three writers who have not only faced change head-
on but invited countless others to do so through their transformative literature.
Julia Alvarez will make a rare public appearance, to discuss her forthcoming collection of
poems, Visitations, and a life of writing through girlhood, womanhood, dictatorship, family and
lovers.
In 2023, internationally acclaimed author Salman Rushdie survived a 2022 knife attack that left
him partially blind. He shares his perspective on writing through change over the course of a
lifetime and why he continues to champion freedom of expression
Rising star Travis Chi Wing Lau’ s work breaks traditional silences around disability and mental
health while celebrating the transformative power of remaining tender in an unforgiving world.
Come and hear three authors discuss how literature not only documents change, but helps us
confront change to discover meaning and hope for life.
All events are free and open to the public. For accessibility requests, please contact
TUESDAY, MARCH 24TH: GASTON HALL
Featuring special guest Julia Alvarez
Dominican-American poet, novelist and essayist, Julia Alvarez will read from her latest poetry collection and engage in conversation with radio host Georgina Godwin. The poems in Visitations reflect on change across the arc of decades—family, aging, love, the body, finding voice, and the very act of poetry itself. This is a master writer’s search for artistic voice and essence, until “the way it sometimes happens: we arrive / where we were promised, belong to / what we longed for in ourselves, each other.”
Plus, 75 free copies of Visitations to give away to the first audience members through the door.
5:45PM | Doors Open, Attendees check-in on the 2nd Floor of Healy Hall for tickets
6:30 PM | Performance by The Gracenotes
7:00 PM | A Conversation with Julia Alvarez
8:00PM | Book Sale and Reception in Healy Foyer
Thursday, MARCH 26TH: DISABILITY CULTURAL CENTER
HFSC Garden Level, across from Leo’s (events will be ASL interpreted).
Join us for an evening of music, poetry, food and wine in the Disability Cultural Center where the evening opens with live sounds from Hieroglyph and closes with rock and pop songs from The Georgetown Phantoms. Poet Travis Chi Wing Lau, author of What’s Left Is Tender, joins radio host Georgina Godwin for an intimate conversation about his powerful exploration of disability, chronic pain, and family silence. Lau writes about growing up with scoliosis, confronting medical systems and breaking from Chinese family traditions of silence around mental health and shame. His work celebrates “the radical act of remaining tender” in a world that seeks to harden us, transforming personal suffering into profound poetry that reclaims softness as strength.
Followed by a reception and book signing.
6:00 PM | A Performance by Hieroglyph
6:30 PM | A Conversation with Travis Chi Wing Lau
7:30 PM | A Performance by the Phantoms
8:00-8:30PM | Book Signing and Reception
Tuesday, MARCH 31ST: GASTON HALL
Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie joins former NPR host and Princeton visiting professor Razia Iqbal for a conversation about his extraordinary writing life, viewed through the lens of change Rushdie will discuss his latest work, The Eleventh Hour, a quintet of short stories published in November 2025, alongside reflections on his literary journey from early novels exploring postcolonial experience to his recent memoir Knife, which chronicles his recovery from the 2022 attack. This master storyteller will explore how personal and political upheavals have shaped his work, the evolution of his voice across continents and crises, and the enduring power of literature to help us navigate life’s most profound transitions.
Followed by a reception. Signed books will be available for sale.
5:45 PM | Doors Open, Attendees check-in on the 2nd Floor of Healy Hall for tickets
6:30 PM | A Performance by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics
The Lab presents the first public performance of an original work
THE USE OF STORIES
Conceived, Adapted and Directed by Derek Goldman, from the work of Salman Rushdie
“What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” That question—posed by a child in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories—sits at the heart of THE USE OF STORIES, an original performance exploring why stories matter in moments of fracture, censorship, and fear. Weaving Haroun with Rushdie’s luminous reflections on encountering The Wizard of Oz in boyhood, the piece moves between myth and memory, childhood wonder and adult reckoning, to examine storytelling as both refuge and resistance. Featuring leading professional performers alongside a chorus of students and community members, THE USE OF STORIES blends spoken text, music, and evocative imagery to create a shared theatrical meditation on imagination, plurality, and freedom. The performance explores who gets to decide what counts as “true,” why doubt and imagination are so often treated as threats, and how stories—true and untrue alike—help us find our way, again and again, back home.
7:00 PM | A Conversation with Salman Rushdie, moderated by Razia Iqbal
8:00-8:30 PM | Book Sale and Reception in Healy Foyer
