Ru Freeman ’94 is a novelist and a blogger for the Huffington Post on literature and politics.

The Language Arts Live series at 乐播传媒 College presents novelist and Huffington Post blogger Ruveni Freeman in a reading from her work at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, in the Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

The Language Arts Live readings, sponsored by 乐播传媒’ English department, are open to the public at no cost. For more information, call 207-786-6256.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Freeman said that her writing is inspired by “things that strike me, and the things that do are most often social injustice and personal relationships.”

Hailing from a family of writers (“and many boys,” she notes) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Freeman came to America to study political science at 乐播传媒. A member of the 乐播传媒 class of 1994, she went on to earn a master’s degree in labor relations from the University of Colombo.

Though she resides in Pennsylvania, Freeman calls both Sri Lanka and America home and writes, she says, about the people and countries underneath her skin.

Freeman has worked in humanitarian assistance and workers’ rights on several continents. Her political journalism on American foreign policy has been disseminated in multiple languages, including English and Farsi.

Her political background is inextricably woven into the narratives of her creative fiction. Her debut novel, A Disobedient Girl (Washington Square Press, 2009), set against the explosive backdrop of class and prejudice in Sri Lanka, focuses on the complicated friendship between a servant girl and the wealthy, spoiled daughter of the family she serves.

A Disobedient Girl, which was described by author Aryn Kyle as “a lush, sweeping epic about desire and betrayal, hope and perseverance,” has been translated into seven languages.

Freeman’s second novel, On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf Press, 2013), explores the relationships in a Sri Lankan neighborhood in the years leading up to the country’s 1983-2009 civil war. Diego Baez of Booklist praises Freeman for “blend[ing] the journalist’s loyalty to fact with impassioned imagination.”

Praised by The Boston Globe as “an achingly gorgeous heartbreaker,” On Sal Mal Lane was named Best Indie Fiction of 2013 by Library Journal.

One evening, over wine and hors d鈥檕euvres in the Bobcat Den, two themes prominent on campus enjoyed an intimate encounter.

With the 乐播传媒 Contemplates Food initiative spotlighting what we eat, and the renewed curricular emphasis on the practice of writing, the time was right for a 鈥淟iterary Caf茅.鈥� The Writing Workshop event in December gathered faculty and staff for food-related readings and chat, seasoned with jazz from physics professor-guitarist John Smedley and bassist Tim Clough.

Readings were personal or historical, humorous or solemn. Poems by Rob Farnsworth, visiting professor of English, pinpointed inner junctions between food and words. His 鈥淎fter Dinner鈥� explored the stimulations of postprandial conversation, while 鈥淒ouce Ame鈥� resorted to food aromas as a palliative for writer鈥檚 block:

鈥溾� take spice bottles down from the cabinet one at a time鈥� / and fill my head with their fragrances, as I would with sad airs / for strings.鈥︹��

A splendid Dining Services buffet 鈥� featuring Swedish meatballs, phyllo filled with cheese and vegetables, pesto and sundried tomato pizza, and mini-whoopie pies 鈥� set a fitting context for poems read by Jane Costlow, professor of Russian.

She focused on other essential questions about food: What to do when there isn鈥檛 enough? And what, when there is enough?

First she read from 鈥淗unger,鈥� Velimir Khlebnikov鈥檚 long lament about a Russian famine in 1920鈥�21: 鈥溾�楾he acorns are gone! The people have eaten my acorns!鈥� / The scampering squirrel chatters angrily.鈥�

Next came Nikolay Zabolotsky鈥檚 鈥淒inner,鈥� whose conclusion, as we sat there feeling satisfied with life, was worth remembering:

鈥淸I]f only we could see in shining rays / the blissful childhood of the plants / surely we should descend upon our knees / before the bubbling pan of vegetables.鈥�

Selected by Time magazine as “must read” for Earth Day 1990, A Forest Journey (Norton & Co., 1989) chronicles civilization’s exploitation of the world’s forests over 5,000 years.

“Perlin deftly weaves human history into an intimate relationship with the forests of the world; it’s essential for those interested in forests as professional or citizen conservationists,” said American Forests magazine.

Perlin also co-wrote A Golden Thread: 2,500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology and currently is at work on the forthcoming book From Space to Earth: The True and Amazing Story of Solar Electricity.