Mohana Rajakumar, an award-winning author, literature scholar and South Asian American who has lived in the Middle East since 2005, will speak about writing and cultural relations in March during a fellowship at Morningside College.

Mohana Rajakumar, an award-winning author, literature scholar and South Asian American who has lived in the Middle East since 2005, will speak about writing and cultural relations in March during a fellowship at Morningside College.

Rajakumar will be in residence on campus at Morningside College as part of the Dimmitt Fellows program. All of these events are free and open to the public.

Award-winning writer and Morningside English Professor Stephen Coyne will moderate a discussion about writing titled “Making Stories: Negotiating the Personal and the Cultural” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, in Klinger-Neal Theatre, 3700 Peters Ave. A book signing will immediately precede the event at 6 p.m.

A production of Rajakumar’s plays on the experiences of marginalized populations within the United States will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 18, in Klinger-Neal Theatre. “Diversity: An Afternoon of New 10-Minute Plays by Mohana Rajakumar” will be performed and directed by Morningside College students. A question and answer session with the playwright and student directors will immediately follow the performance.

Rajakumar will share her experiences as an American expatriate who has been living and working in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar for the past decade during a lecture on “Making Rivers in the Desert: What Americans Can Learn Living Abroad” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the UPS Auditorium in Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Ave.

For more information about Rajakumar and the Dimmit Fellow events, contact Christina Triezenberg, assistant professor of English, at (712) 274-5268 or triezenbergc@morningside.edu.