Delhi Launch, Extinction
An evening of talking about mothers and daughters, about grief and memories, and how we choose to deal with what we remember.
Family Secrets
24-Oct-2026 | Little Theatre | 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
FAMILY SECRETS
Launch of Leeya Mehta's 'Extinction'
followed by a discussion on novels that take us from inheritance to catharsis
B Jeyamohan in conversation with Leeya Mehta
Presenting B. Jeyamohan’s ‘White Elephant’ and writing about America from afar. One of the greatest living writers today, B Jeyamohan, will be in conversation with Cheuse Director Leeya Mehta. They will discuss Jeyamohan’s philosophy, idealism and the writer in the world. Jeyamohan’s newest book in translation White Elephant (FSG) touches on the geopolitics of famine, colonialism and the ice trade from America to India in the 1800s.This discussion will focus on Jeyamohan’s fiction and his philosophy and idealism –how a literary movement can deepen community and ways of seeing.
At the Annapolis Book Festival
The writer Manil Suri will discuss his new memoir with fellow Bombay writer Leeya Mehta at the Annapolis Book Festival as part of the Cheuse Center’s annual contribution to the Festival.
Meditations in Georgetown
A public art event on place, histories, and tenderness. An afternoon exploring place and history, featuring Polish writer and activist Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, alongside Mt Zion- Female Union Band Society Cemetery’s Director Lisa Fager, Oak Hill Cemetery’s Archivist and Collections Manager Laura Thoms, Director of GW’s Creative Writing program Lisa Page, poet Martheaus Perkins, and writer and Cheuse Director Leeya Mehta, with guided tours connecting literature, history, and place.
The Cheuse Lecture, Featuring Colm Tóibín
Featuring Colm Tóibín, the Cheuse Tenth anniversary festival will present the 4th annual Cheuse Lecture. RSVP here: https://cheusecenter.gmu.edu/events/17712 The events around the anniversary are curated by Cheuse Director, Leeya Mehta and the Tenth Anniversary Committee of the Cheuse Center with Kris O’Shee, Eric Weiner, Micah Morrison, Carol Mitchell, Lina Patton, Brittany Kerfoot and William Miller.
Eoghan Walls Book Launch
EOGHAN WALLS — FIELD NOTES FROM AN EXTINCTION - WITH LEEYA MEHTA — AT CONN AVE https://politics-prose.com/eoghan-walls-032326
In Conversation with Azar Nafisi
On June 3, from 5-6pm, Leeya will be in conversation with the writer, Azar Nafisi. Register here.
The Middle East Institute Arts and Culture Center invites you to a special evening with acclaimed author and literary scholar Azar Nafisi, celebrated for her international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Drawing on both personal experience and literary tradition, Nafisi will reflect on the power of literature in times of crisis—and how the written word can become a force of resistance, refuge, and renewal.
In conversation with Leeya Mehta, director of The Alan Cheuse International Writers’ Center at George Mason University, Nafisi will explore how storytelling fosters imagination, freedom, and empathy. She will also discuss how literature has empowered women in Iran—and around the world—to find their voices and assert their agency in the face of repression.
This event is presented in conjunction with the MEI Art Gallery’s current exhibition, Maximal Miniatures: Contemporary Art from Iran, on view through August 22, 2025.
Cover Photo credit: Aster Equine Photography for the Cheuse Center from the first annual Cheuse Busboys and Poets Lecture
Virtual Craft Chat: Paul Jaskunas talks to Leeya Mehta
Leeya Mehta will talk to Paul Jaskuna about his novel. Set in 1901, Paul Jaskunas’s multi-generational immigrant saga in-miniature nimbly blends historical realism with a dreamlike aesthetic to create a unique and arresting portrait of one family fervently hoping that America will make good on its promise
Eric Weiner in conversation with Leeya Mehta at Politics and Prose
Leeya Mehta will be in conversation with Eric Weiner about his new book Ben & Me, at Politics and Prose. Eric Weiner’s Geography of Bliss was made into a Peacock show hosted by The Office’s Rainn Wilson.
Poetry Reading at the Writers Center
Leeya Mehta will be reading at this wonderful group reading to launch new collections by Amanda Newell and Danny Lawless.
Ireland Reading
If you are in Ireland, dear wanderers and friends, come hear me read with Jacki Lyden, Alice McDermott and many more wonderful writers!
Reading in Ireland!
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Reading in Ireland! 〰️
Annapolis Book Festival
We had a wonderful discussion and reading at the ABF with Zein El-Amine, Sunu Chandy, Sarah Marsh & Vivek Narayanan!
In-person Reading!
Join the Writer’s Center & Finishing Line Press for an in person book launch
Station to Station
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Station to Station, Poet to Poet! For the Plume 9 anthology, Danny Lawless, editor of Plume, enlisted forty-nine guest editors, who offered a poem of their own, then selected, introduced and presented a poem from another poet. With this series, we bring you these pairings for a multi-session Spring celebration of poetry. Join our editors at Plume for the fourth in this five-part series (ending in June). The series is moderated by Plume editors Leeya Mehta & Nancy Mitchell. Plume 9 is available here.
Session 4
Moderated by Leeya Mehta
Featuring
Chase Twichell & Dennis Sampson
David Kirby & Alejandro Escudé
Inner Loop Lit 7th Anniversary Reading
Check in here for the Zoom Link!
We feel so lucky to still be looping after SEVEN YEARS! Please join us to celebrate our wonderful literary community during this our anniversary month with an evening of FLASH readings from alumni writers.
Featuring Karen Leona Anderson with 2-minute flashing of skivvies from 18 TIL veterans from the past year.
We'll also be highlighting the work of local visual artists, including Chris Biles, Thu Nguyen, Lucinda Marshall, and Bennie Herron.
Stay-tuned for the evening's themed cocktail recipe!
Check in here for the Zoom Link!
Readings on the Pike
So excited to return to Readings on the Pike hosted by the amazing Hannah Grieco. Zoom link available week of the event at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1690386641164459
Any difficulties, email me: leeyabmehta@gmail.com
Finale: Women's History Month Reading
Poets on the Plaza, Wednesday, March 31, 2021 @7PM EST!!
Please pre-register for this event in order to get the Zoom link on the day of. Those interested can register via Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/3uuc3Jj
Any trouble with the Zoom link, you can email me at leeyabmehta@gmail.com
Craft Chat with Leeya Mehta
RSVP, and you’ll receive an email on or before January 28 with instructions for joining the chat via our video conferencing platform, Zoom. FREE and open to the public.
National Press Club Reading
“These voices in the name of the city.”
Melissa Scholes Young
To commemorate the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, the National Press Club's Book and Author Group will present a Virtual Book Rap featuring authors reading from Furious Gravity, the ninth volume of the “Grace and Gravity” series of literary journals at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6.
To receive an invitation to join the event, please email Heather Forsgren Weaver at HeatherForsgrenWeaver@gmail.com.
For event information:
https://www.press.org/newsroom/dc-women-writers-read-furious-gravity-during-virtual-book-rap-oct-6
Lineup:
7:00 pm Welcome from Naomi Weiss
7:05 pm FG Intro from Melissa Scholes Young
7:10 pm Naomi Weiss reads
7:20 pm Alice Stephens reads
7:25 pm Donna Hemans reads
7:30 pm Carrie Callaghan reads
7:35 pm Leeya Mehta reads
7:40 pm Q & A led by Mary Kay Zuravleff
Noir at the Bar
Novelist Ed Aymar hosts the wonderful reading series Noir at the Bar. I can’t wait to join him in September to read some dark fiction. Stay tuned for details.
Reading Love Poems @ The Inner Loop
“We can be lighter, warmer, softer, / Kinder.” By adding love poems to the Inner Loop reading on August 18th, I will remember moments of tenderness even in the midst of uncertainty and imperfection. Come Join!
We'll add the Zoom link to the Facebook event when it gets closer:
https://www.facebook.com/events/286096449343098/
Writer's Center
Please join for an online event to kick off the Plume Poetry Series in support of our eighth print anthology, Plume Poetry 8, with esteemed contributors Leeya Mehta, Nancy Mitchell, Stewart Moss, Amanda Newell, John Nieves, and editor Daniel Lawless. Books signings and a discount on all copies purchased at The Writer’s Center. Reception to follow. Come! Enjoy!
RSVP required at https://www.writer.org/event/plume/
FREE and open to the public.
Information about joining this virtual event will be emailed on or before August 1.
Furious Gravity Launch
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Riding through despair
We citizens of the twenty-first century are not the first to know suffering, political oppression, and personal anguish, and yet our contemporary world often feels more complex and more threatened than we imagine the past to have been. Members of the panel will explore how they confront the difficulties of their own culture through cross-cultural understanding and literary translation.