MEETING DETAILS
Saturday, June 27th
1-3 p.m.
Thomas Jefferson Library
7415 Arlington Boulevard
Falls Church, VA 22042-7409
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
White Bird is about a man who travels to Nepal to scatter his brother’s ashes. The novel features travel to Kathmandu in Nepal, the encounter with Buddhism, a shaman, a Western female Buddhist nun, séances, reincarnation, spiritualism, and sex. White Bird took three years to research and write. The talk will describe the process of background research, for example, on Tibetan Buddhism, the Peace Corps in Nepal, accounts of early explorers like Alexandra David-Neel and Madam Blavatsky, and tourism to Kathmandu. Ruta will discuss the process of writing for three years, improving craft, and shaping the story. Finally, Ruta will share some lessons learned about self-publishing.
PRESENTER BIO
Ruta Sevo writes fiction and lives in Burke, VA, retired from the National Science Foundation. She recently wrote and self-published a novel (White Bird), a novella (Vilnius Diary) and a translation of her grandfather’s memoir from Lithuanian. She spent years in Calcutta doing field work for a Ph.D. in South Asian civilization studies from the University of Chicago and has a B.A. in comparative literature.