The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center

10/14/2026

Lovely to read about B Jeyamohan’s trip to the capital region and Cheuse! Penned by the author himself: https://www.southboundreview.com/two-litfests-two-meetings-in-the-usa/

Busboys and Poets Leeya Mehta Mason Exhibitions

Being part of a panel discussion with celebrated writers of world literature is both embarrassing and exciting. I was on a panel with Cristina…

10/13/2026

B Jeyamohan’s full interview with the Cheuse Center:

Presenting B. Jeyamohan’s ‘White Elephant’ and writing about Americ...

10/06/2026

So good to see Mona and Zeina at Busboys and Poets Zeina Azzam

09/23/2026

Free RSVP in bio. Gestures & Journey(s): History Rushes In features Nancy Naomi Carlson, Sylvie Kande, and Saaret E. Yoseph. Moderated by Heather Green. How do memories, gestures and journeys, across time, place and cultures leave impressions on us and shape our expressions as readers, writers, and artists? Join us for an hour of poetry, film, and conversation, featuring two Black women writers from the African diaspora. Saaret E.Yoseph will share an excerpt from her visual docupoem JOURNEY(S): addis to dc, which combines oral history, poetry, archival imagery and animation to honor the migration experiences of Ethiopian women in America. Sylvie Kande and her translator Nancy Naomi Carlson will read from GESTUARY, Kande’s collection of poetry. Together, they will explore the infinite intersections and inextricable connections of the Black diaspora through creative works of personal and public history.

09/03/2026

International Writers Festival: Jeyamohan in Conversation with Leeya Mehta
Join legendary Tamil writer and literary critic B. Jeyamohan in conversation with Cheuse Center Director Leeya Mehta for a discussion of his newest book, White Elephant (FSG, 2026), and the ideas that shape his fiction, and literary life.
The conversation will explore famine, colonialism, the movement of ideas across borders, and how literature can deepen community and transform the way we see the world.
📅 Tuesday, September 29 | 4:30 PM
📍 Gillespie Gallery, Art & Design Building, George Mason University, Fairfax
A reception with food, drinks, and music by Roman Kostovski of Plamen Press will follow from 6–7 PM.
Free and open to the public. RSVP through the Cheuse Center website.

09/03/2026

International Writers Festival: Gestures & Journey(s): History Rushes In
Join Nancy Naomi Carlson, Sylvie Kandé, and Saaret E. Yoseph, moderated by Heather Green, for a conversation bringing together English, French, and Amharic voices across poetry, translation, art, migration, and history.
📅 Tuesday, September 29 | 3:00 PM
📍 Gillespie Gallery, Art & Design Building, George Mason University, Fairfax
Free and open to the public. RSVP through the Cheuse Center website.

09/02/2026

International Writers Festival: Kitchen Table Translations Revisited
Join writer, translator, artist, and educator Madhu H. Kaza for a beginner-friendly conversation on translation, migration, language and belonging.
Kaza is the author of Lines of Flight and editor of Kitchen Table Translation, and currently teaches translation in the graduate writing program at Columbia University.
📅 Tuesday, September 29 | 1:30 PM
📍 Gillespie Gallery, Art & Design Building, George Mason University, Fairfax
Free and open to the public. RSVP through the Cheuse Center website.

09/02/2026

International Writers Festival: Translating America From the Outside In and the Inside Out
How does America look when seen from another language, another country, or another point of view?
Join Carolyn Forché, Fernando Valverde, Cheuse Writer in Residence Marina Pérezagua, and Eric Weiner for a conversation on translating America symbolically following in the footsteps of de Tocqueville. Moderated by visiting Australian writer Matthew Clayfield.
Part of the Cheuse Center’s 10th anniversary programming and its exploration of America at 250, this panel asks: What other voices, languages and ways of seeing can help us understand America?
📅 Tuesday, September 29 | 12:00 PM
📍 Gillespie Gallery, Art & Design Building, George Mason University, Fairfax
Free and open to the public. RSVP through the Cheuse Center website.