On Sunday, May 15, 2022, Drs. Nandi and Neelakshi Wijesinghe hosted a private book launch event at their home in Anaheim, California to celebrate the launch of their daughter Aruni’s debut poetry collection titled 2 Revere Place.
The event was a warm gathering of friends from all parts of Aruni’s life, from close family to former teachers, friends from childhood and adulthood, and members of the local literary community. The family’s goal was to recreate family parties of the 1970s that they so fondly remember as the poetry collection is a loving look back to that childhood. A combination of Sri Lankan short eats and 1970s-style appetizers was on the menu for the garden party, and Aruni gave a brief reading of poems from her book mid-afternoon.
The family deeply appreciates the love and support shown for this debut book and is hopeful for continued interest in this look at Sri Lankan-American identity. Aruni will continue to have public readings and book events throughout the summer at different locations around Southern California both live and on Zoom. She hopes to do a few readings up in the San Francisco Bay Area in late summer and back east in New York and Washington DC in the autumn.
Her book can be ordered from her publisher, Moon Tide Press:
https://www.moontidepress.com/books
You can follow Aruni’s work at her website https://aruniwrites.com and on Instagram @aruniwrites
