Talk of the Town

Pico Iyer, Novelist, Essayist and Journalist

Mon. Mar. 17, 7:30-9:00 pm

With: Pico Iyer, Author of The Global Soul, Video Night in Kathmandu and a New Novel, Abandon

The "poet laureate of wanderlust", Pico Iyer is the author of six books and his essays and journalism have appeared in Time, Harpers, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and many other publications around the world. He has described himself as a "multinational soul on a multicultural globe"and his writing eloquently probes what personal identity means in the global village.

At his publisher’s web site you can read about his new novel, Abandon: "Eerie and incandescent, Abandon displays Iyer’s unique gift for showing the dance of dreams and desires and preconceptions that ensues when cultures collide." You can also read an excerpt.

The discussion will take place at UBC's Robson Square campus. Attendance is free of charge, but please register by phoning 604.822.1700.

Photo: Pico Iyer, author of The Global Soul (Vintage Books, March 2001), © Mark Richards.

Biography

Pico Iyer was born in England to Indian parents, grew up in California, attended Eton and Oxford and now lives in suburban Japan. Literary Quarterly had this to say about Pico Iyer and his writing:

"Pico Iyer is the poet laureate of wanderlust. His perennial subject is the strange confluences and poignant idiosyncrasies born of our world’s dissolving borders, and he explores it with a rich mixture of astonishing erudition and wide-eyed wonder."

Selected Bibliography

Many of the books below may be ordered through the UBC Bookstore:

The Global Soul, Vintage, 2001.

Tropical Classical, Vintage, 1998.

Cuba and the Night, (fiction), Vintage, 1996.

Falling Off the Map, Vintage, 1994.

The Lady and the Monk, Vintage, 1992.

Video Night in Kathmandu, Vintage, 1989.

Links & Readings

Random House: Pico Iyer

Random House in Canada and the US publishes Pico Iyer. The Random House site has information on all his previously published books.

Insight and Outlook

Insight and Outlook was a radio series that aired on NPR in the US until 1999. Scott London interviewed Pico Iyer for the program and the transcript is available at the Insight and Outlook web site.

Salon.com

Salon.com published an appreciation of Pico Iyer in September 1999.

www.rickmcginnis.com

Pico Iyer has a particular fondness for and faith in Canada, as discussed in this interview by Rick McGinnis in 2001.

Halifax Herald (October 2002)

Mr. Iyer has written about the growing importance of Canadian literature in the world of international letters, the subject of this article from the Halifax Herald in October 2002.

The Buddhist Review

A thoughtful meditation on Buddhism and book tours published in The Buddhist Review.

Harper's Magazine (June 2002)

Harper's magazine published an article by Pico Iyer in June 2002 entitled The Last Refuge, On the promise of New Canadian Fiction. It isn't available on-line, but is well worth a read if you can track down a hard copy.