Ru Freeman

Last updated
Ru Freeman
Ru freeman 2005.JPG
Born Colombo, Sri Lanka
OccupationWriter
LanguageSinhala, English, French
CitizenshipSri Lankan and American
Education Murdoch University
Alma mater Bates College;
University of Colombo
GenreProse, Poetry, Journalism
RelativesArjuna Seneviratne, Malinda Seneviratne (Brothers) Gamini Seneviratne (Father) Ingrain Seneviratne (mother, dec.)
Website
rufreeman.com

Ru Freeman is a Sri Lankan born writer and activist whose creative and political work has appeared internationally, including in the UK Guardian, The Boston Globe, and the New York Times. She is the author of the novels A Disobedient Girl (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2009), and On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf Press), a NYT Editor’s Choice Book. Both novels have been translated into multiple languages including Italian, French, Turkish, Dutch, and Chinese. She is editor of the anthology, Extraordinary Rendition: (American) Writers on Palestine (OR Books, 2015 and Interlink, 2016), a collection of the voices of 65 American poets and writers speaking about America’s dis/engagement with Palestine, and co-editor of the anthology, Indivisible: Global Leaders on Shared Security (Interlink, 2019). She holds a graduate degree in labor studies, researching female migrant labor in the countries of Kuwait, the U.A.E, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and has worked at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, in the South Asia office of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL/CIO), and the American Friends Service Committee in their humanitarian and disaster relief programs. She is a contributing editorial board member of the Asian American Literary Review, and a fellow of the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Lannan Foundation. She is the 2014 winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction by an American Woman. She writes for the Huffington Post on books and politics.

Contents

Life

Ru Freeman was born in Colombo. [1] She studied at Murdoch University and graduated from Bates College with a BA, and from the University of Colombo. [2]

Her work has appeared in Huffington Post, [3] Guernica, [4] Story Quarterly, VQR, [5] Crab Orchard Review, Narrative, [6] World Literature Today, [7] Post Road, Confessions: Fact or Fiction?. [8]

In 2009, Freeman attacked the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy for her views on the Sri Lankan civil conflict and stated that the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa was "doing its best to assist the civilians who have lived for the past 25 years under the LTTE", a Tamil separatist group known as the Tamil Tigers. [9] According to Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, "thousands of civilians who emerged from the conflict zone were detained in camps where the security forces committed torture, rape and enforced disappearances . . . Rajapaksa pursued policies hostile to ethnic and religious minorities, and repressed those seeking justice for abuses committed during the civil war." [10]


She teaches at Columbia University. [11]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sri Lanka</span>

The history of Sri Lanka is unique because its relevance and richness extend beyond the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The early human remains which were found on the island of Sri Lanka date back to about 38,000 years ago.

Sri Lanka is a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Sri Lanka is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahinda Rajapaksa</span> President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lanka Freedom Party</span> Political party in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the main political parties of Sri Lanka. It was founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951 and has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena since. It first came to power in 1956 and has served as the predominant ruling party on a number of occasions. It is currently the third largest party in the Parliament of Sri Lanka after the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajiva Wijesinha</span> Sri Lankan writer

Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil is a Sri Lankan writer in English, distinguished for his political analysis as well as creative and critical work. An academic by profession for much of his working career, he was most recently Senior Professor of Languages at the University of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</span> President of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022

Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Iraj Weeraratne is a Sinhalese R&B and hip hop artist, music producer,DJ and entrepreneur. Weeraratne had a television show on Derana TV called "Iraj Show". He is known as a prominent hip-hop and RnB artist in Sri Lanka. He was the first person to introduce Sinhala rap as well as Tamil rap to Sri Lanka in 2004.

The Sunday Leader was an English-language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are the Iruresa (Irudina) and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge, the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage. The newspaper and its staff have been attacked and threatened several times and its founding editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated.

Iruresa is a Sinhala language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Lithira Publications (Private) Limited, part of Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are The Sunday Leader and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge, the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lasantha Wickrematunge</span> Sri Lankan journalist (1958–2009)

Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist, politician, broadcaster and human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sri Lanka (1948–present)</span>

The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namal Rajapaksa</span> Sri Lankan politician

Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer. He is the eldest son of Sri Lankan former President and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and a member of parliament. He was the Minister of Youth and Sports from 2020 to 2022.

War crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War are war crimes and crimes against humanity which the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been accused of committing during the final months of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. The war crimes include attacks on civilians and civilian buildings by both sides; executions of combatants and prisoners by both sides; enforced disappearances by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary groups backed by them; sexual violence by the Sri Lankan military; the systematic denial of food, medicine, and clean water by the government to civilians trapped in the war zone; child recruitment, hostage taking, use of military equipment in the proximity of civilians and use of forced labor by the Tamil Tigers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica Jansz</span> Sri Lankan journalist)

Frederica Jansz is a Sri Lankan journalist and former editor of The Sunday Leader.

Dayan Jayatilleka is a leftist Sri Lankan academic, diplomat, writer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting</span>

The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 23rd Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15 to 17 November 2013. Commonwealth leaders agreed on Sri Lanka as the 2013 host for the meeting when they met in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2009. Sri Lanka, which was originally slated to host the summit in 2011, was accused of committing atrocities during the Sri Lankan civil war and the summit was instead held in Perth, Australia; Colombo was given the 2013 summit instead. The leaders of Canada, Mauritius, and India boycotted the summit, citing alleged human rights violations by Sri Lanka against its Tamil minority. Protests were also banned during the summit. President Mahinda Rajapaksa summarised the summit's events as: "Issues covered in the communique include development, political values, global threats, challenges and Commonwealth cooperation." However, the meeting was overshadowed by controversy over Sri Lanka's human rights record and the alleged war crimes during the final stages of the civil war. This was the first time in 40 years that the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, was not present at the CHOGM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Sri Lankan presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015, two years ahead of schedule. Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance's candidate, seeking a third term in office. The United National Party-led opposition coalition chose to field Maithripala Sirisena, former Minister of Health in Rajapaksa's government and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – the main constituent party of the UPFA – as its common candidate.

Seetha Arambepola is a Sri Lankan politician, surgeon, and Member of the Parliament from National List. She was the State Minister of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation. Currently she is the State Minister of Health.

Dharisha Bastians also spelt as either Darisha Bastians or Darisha Bastian is a Sri Lankan journalist and human rights activist. She was the Editor of the Sunday Observer and a contributor to The New York Times.

References

  1. ↑ "War & Peace: Ru Freeman".
  2. ↑ "AWP: Directory of Members".
  3. ↑ "13 Bests of AWP 2013". HuffPost . 12 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Ru Freeman: Siege".
  5. ↑ "Ru Freeman | VQR Online".
  6. ↑ "Ru Freeman | Narrative Magazine". 30 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Ru Freeman".
  8. ↑ "Ru Freeman | Graywolf Press". www.graywolfpress.org. Archived from the original on 2014-05-19.
  9. ↑ ""Arundhati doesn't have a fig leaf to hide behind"".
  10. ↑ "Sri Lanka's former president must be investigated for war crimes | Human Rights Watch". 22 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Undergraduate Information".
  12. ↑ "Book review: 'On Sal Mal Lane,' by Ru Freeman | Dallasnews.com - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News". Archived from the original on 2013-06-11.
  13. ↑ "Ru Freeman's novel of family, conflict in Sri Lanka".
  14. ↑ Cristina García (21 June 2013). "Just Around the Corner". The New York Times. Ru Freeman's assured second novel is a much quieter yet rewarding portrait of a community of families on a dead-end road in Colombo, the country's capital. They are a mixed lot on Sal Mal Lane: Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers, descendants of European colonizers.
External audio
Nuvola apps arts.svg Ru Freeman: "On Sal Mal Lane", The Diane Rehm Show June 3, 2013
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.