The South Asian Reading Circle
- When: Sat, 14 Nov 2026 · 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
- Where: Turning Pages, Plot 108, Jakkur Rd, MCECHS Layout Phase 2, Jakkur, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064
- Tickets: Free
- For: Adults
Reading Circle by The South Asian History Society
This time, we turn to Sri Lanka through Anuk Arudpragasam’s A Story of a Brief Marriage.
Set during the final days of the Sri Lankan Civil War, the novel follows two displaced Tamils pushed into a hurried marriage inside a makeshift camp; two people trying to hold on to dignity, tenderness, and some sense of ordinary life in the middle of extraordinary devastation.
Through a selected excerpt, we’ll explore the lived realities of civilians caught in war: trauma, displacement, grief, memory, survival, and the fragile ways people continue to care for one another when familiar social structures have fallen away.
This is not simply a discussion about a novel.
It is an opportunity to encounter a moment in Sri Lankan history through literature, to think about how fiction can bring us closer to the intimate, human experiences that larger historical narratives can sometimes leave unseen.
Join The South Asian History Society at Turning Pages for an afternoon of reading, reflection, and conversation.
Come read closely. Listen deeply. And discover how literature can help us understand history through the lives lived inside it.
It is not mandatory to read the book beforehand and the participants are welcome to purchase the book before or after the reading circle at Turning Pages.