Ru Freeman

Fiction Writer

New York, NY
New York US
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Ru Freeman is an award-winning Sri Lankan and American poet, writer, and critic, whose work appears internationally. She is the author of the novels A Disobedient Girl (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2009) and On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf, 2013), a New York Times Editor's Choice, both appearing in translation, and editor of Extraordinary Rendition: American Writers on Palestine (OR Books, 2015), and Indivisible: Global Leaders on Shared Security (Interlink, 2018). Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Poetry, Narrative,The Normal School, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere. She teaches in the MFA program at Columbia University.  
 

Publications & Prizes

Books:
On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf Press, 2013)
,
A Disobedient Girl (Atria, 2009)
Journals:
Crab Orchard Review
, ,
Prizes won: 

Disquiet International Literary Prize for Non-Fiction & Grand Prize in all genres (2017) 
Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction by an American Woman (2014) 
Sister Mariella Gable Award for Literature (Fall, 2013)
Impac Dublin Literary Award (2015) On Sal Mal Lane long-listed
DCS Prize for South Asian Literature (September, 2013 & 2019) Longlisted

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Zadie Smith (NF), Rohinton Mistry, Anne Carson, Ocean Vuong, Alice Oswald, Abraham Varghese, Jamaica Kincaid, Stanley Kunitz, Terrance Hayes (Poetry & NF), Javier Marias, Jeanette Winterson, Ursula K Le Guin (NF & F)
What I'm reading now: 
What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness & Resistance by Carolyn Forché , Berta Isla by Javier Marias, Where Reason Ends by Yiyun Li

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
South Asian
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Raised in: 
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: May 06, 2019