Join us for a special one-off reading and discussion with author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy to celebrate her latest book HOMELANDS.

This book is about two unlikely friends. One born in 1970s Britain to Indian immigrant parents, the other arrived from Nazi Germany in 1939, fleeing persecution.

This book is about common ground. It is a story of migration, anti-Semitism, racism, family, belonging, grief and resilience. This book is about the past and the present. It is about the state we’re in now and the ways in which we carry our pasts into our futures. This book is about homelands.

About the author

Chitra Ramaswamy is an award-winning journalist and author. Her first book, Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy, won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Polari Prize. She has contributed essays to Antlers of Water, Nasty Women, The Freedom Papers, The Bi-ble and Message from the Skies.

She is a TV critic for the Guardian, the restaurant critic for The Times Scotland, a columnist for the National Trust for Scotland and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio Scotland. She lives in Edinburgh with her partner, two young children and rescue dog. Her latest book Homelands has received huge critical acclaim in 2022.

Praise for Homelands

“Achingly beautiful… at times, it left me with an ache I struggled to name.” The Guardian

“Ramaswamy reflects with dreamlike clarity on memory and transience.” The Observer

“Sn eloquent testament to the tribulations of national belonging.” New Statesman

“Gripping, lyrical, unfolding in immersive present tense.” The Scotsman

“An utterly engrossing story that spans the twentieth century, surveying otherness, family and belonging, but above all friendship.” Denise Mina

“A spellbinding story of triumph and tragedy, war and sanctuary, emigration and belonging. Fans of Sebald and De Waal are going to love this.” Gavin Francis

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