Shyam Selvadurai Thursday 28 May

Don't miss Shyam Selvadurai reading from his most recent novel

The Hungry Ghosts.

In Buddhist myth, the dead may be reborn as "hungry ghosts" - spirits with stomachs so large they can never be full - if they have desired too much during their lives. It is the duty of the living relatives to free those doomed to this fate by doing kind deeds and creating good karma. In Shyam Selvadurai’s sweeping new novel, he creates an unforgettable ghost, a powerful Sri Lankan matriarch whose wily ways, insatiable longing for land, houses, money and control, and tragic blindness to the human needs of those around her parallels the volatile political situation of her war-torn country. 

The Hungry Ghosts is a beautifully written, dazzling story of family, wealth, and the long reach of the past. It shows how racial, political and sexual differences can tear apart both a country and the human heart—not just once, but many times, until the ghosts are fed and freed.