{"id":4935,"date":"2019-11-11T10:43:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T16:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=4935"},"modified":"2019-11-11T11:14:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T17:14:57","slug":"off-to-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=4935","title":{"rendered":"Off to Lithuania…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Julija \u0160ukys in Belastok\/Brovka, Siberia, while doing research for the book SIBERIAN EXILE. 2010.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a couple of days I’m off to Lithuania to speak at the XVI World Lithuanian \u00a0Symposium for Scholarship and Creativity (XVI Pasaulio lietuvi\u0173 mokslo ir k\u016brybos simpoziumas). The event brings together Lithuanian diasporic writers, artists, educators, and scholars from all over the world.<\/p>\n

I’m taking part in the plenary session and have been asked to think (and talk) about the question of identity — national, ethnic, and cultural. For someone who lives in a constant state of uprootedness and nomadism, it’s a \u00a0tall order. So, in true essayistic fashion, I plan to bring it down to the small, everyday, and personal. I wouldn’t presume to tell anyone who grew up in an immigrant\/\u00e9migr\u00e9 family as I did how to think about who they are. I can only speak for myself, on the basis of my own experience, and tell the story of what writing books like Siberian Exile<\/em> and Epistolophilia<\/em> have taught me.<\/p>\n

With luck, that will suffice (I’ll find the big in the small) it will \u00a0be of interest to those who come to listen.<\/p>\n

Wish me luck!<\/p>\n

If you’re in Kaunas, Lithuania<\/strong>, on November 15th (14:30-16:30, Plenary Session, Vytauto Did\u017eiojo universitetas, Did\u017eioji aula, Gimnazijos g. 7)<\/strong>, come on by to hear what I come up with. Fair warning: the event’s taking place in Lithuanian! I plan to show pictures of Siberia, including the one above. This is me in the place where my grandmother’s Siberian house once stood.<\/p>\n

Here’s link to the event schedule.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[Photo: Julija \u0160ukys in Belastok\/Brovka, Siberia, while doing research for Siberian Exile<\/em>. 2010.]<\/p>\n

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