A young man journeys into Sri Lanka’s war-torn north in this searing novel of longing, loss, and the legacy of war. A Passage North begins with a message from out of the blue: a telephone call informing Krishan that his grandmother’s caretaker, Rani, has died under unexpected circumstances—found at the bottom of a well in her village in the north, her neck broken by the fall.  As Krishan makes the long journey by train from Colombo into the war-torn Northern Province for Rani’s funeral, so begins an astonishing passage into the innermost reaches of a country. At once a powerful meditation on absence and longing, as well as an unsparing account of the legacy of Sri Lanka’s thirty-year civil war, this procession to a pyre “at the end of the earth” lays bare the imprints of an island’s past, the unattainable distances between who we are and what we seek.

Anuk Arudpragasam talks with Fathima Cader about A Passage North and its poignant memorial for those lost and those still alive.

About this event’s guests:
Anuk Arudpragasam
Fathima Cader

Photo of author courtesy of Ruvin De Silva.

This event is part of TPL’s Summer Books series. Check out the webpage for the entire Summer Books Series schedule.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Anuk Arudpragasam: A Passage North