Featuring Shelley Fairweather-Vega (editor and translator) and Zarina Spandiyarova (actress)
Private home in Harlem, NY
RSVP Jee at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org for directions.

Visiting from Seattle, editor and translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega speaks and fields questions about the lauded anthology Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan (Gaudy Boy, 2022), which she edited together with Zaure Batayeva. Diverse in form, scope, and style, Amanat brings together the voices of 13 Kazakh women writers to offer a glimpse into the many lives, stories, and histories of one of the largest countries to emerge from the breakup of the Soviet Union. After Fairweather-Vega’s introduction, Zarina Spandiyarova, a Kazakh actress based in Brooklyn, performs a dramatic reading of her favorite story from the anthology.

The gathering begins with a potluck, followed by a short open-mic. To read for the open-mic, RSVP Jee at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org.

Shelley Fairweather-Vega, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington, translates fiction, poetry and screenplays from Russian and Uzbek to English. Aside from extensive work with the authors included in this volume, she has translated short stories and novels by the Uzbek writer Hamid Ismailov and the Kazakh musicologist Talasbek Asemkulov, and her translations have been published in Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, Brooklyn Rail, and Translation Review.

Named after a Saka warrior, Zarina Spandiyarova was born in the ancient town of Taraz in Kazakhstan. She was raised by her maternal Grandmother who taught her about Kazakh traditions and wisdom. When Zarina was young, her uncles noticed her talent in acting, which she inherited from her mother. Throughout her school years she played different roles in many theatrical performances. Working now as an engineer in NYC, she looks forward to returning to the stage at the Second Saturdays event.