Biography

Ru Freeman is the award-winning activist and author of the short story collection Sleeping Alone, the forthcoming Bon Courage: Essays, the widely translated novels A Disobedient Girl and The New York Times Editor’s Choice Book On Sal Mal Lane, and is editor of Extraordinary Rendition: American Writers on Palestine and Indivisible: Global Leaders on Shared Security. She teaches creative writing worldwide and directs the Artists Network for Narrative 4.

Schedule

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Capitol Park Museum, First Floor Auditorium
Discussion
We Are the Stories We Tell: Celebrating 10 Years of Narrative 4
with Darrell Bourque, Ru Freeman, Colum McCann, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Elliott Woods, and moderator Felice Belle

Noon to 12:45 p.m.
State Library, First Floor Seminar Center
Discussion
What We Talk About When We Talk About Conflict: The Global Impact of State-Sponsored Violence
with Colum McCann, and Elliott Woods, with moderator Ru Freeman

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Cavalier House Bookselling Tent
Book Signing

Sleeping Alone: Stories

In this collection of rich and textured stories about crossing borders, both real and imagined, Sleeping Alone asks one of the fundamental questions of our times: What is the toll of feeling foreign in one’s land, to others, or even to oneself? A cast of misfits, young and old, single and coupled, even entire family units, confront startling changes wrought by difficult circumstances or harrowing choices.

These stories span the world, moving from Maine to Sri Lanka, from Dublin to Philadelphia, paying exquisite attention to the dance between the intimate details of our lives and our public selves.

Whether Ru Freeman, author of the novel On Sal Mal Lane, is capturing secrets kept by siblings in Sri Lanka, or the life of itinerants in New York City, she renders the nuances of her characters’ lives with real sensitivity, and imbues them with surprising dignity and grace.