Summer 2026
August 21, 2026 Toronto Launch of Governing Bodies in Conversation with Madhur Anand at Ben McNally Books. RSVP
June 25, 2026 Firecracker Awards Ceremony Recording
SPRING 2026
Sunday March 29, 2026 3 pm ET VINE Book Club (Virtual) Register here.
“The VINE Book Club meets monthly to discuss books of interest to animal advocates who work within an ecological awareness of the linkages between animal exploitation and other forms of injustice.”
Monday March 30, 2026 7 pm Astoria Bookshop, NY Register HereI’ve been reading Catharina Coenen’s brilliant book Unexploded Ordnance, and I am so excited to discuss the expansiveness and power of memoir with her. Join us for a conversation with our dear friend and writer Lisa Freedman.
Wednesday April 1, 2026 12:30 PM-1:30 PM ET SUNY Stony Brook AAPI Celebration Keynote: On Confluences and Connections. More info here:
Monday April 13, 2026, 6:30 pm, PT San Francisco, CA, The Ruby
So thrilled to be back in Bay Area for this:
The River Connects Us: Sangamithra Iyer, Vijaya Nagarajan and Shruti Swamy in conversation.
The work of the featured writers holds a keen interest in the interwoven lives of plants, humans, and animals, an attention to the sacred, and explorations of ancestral knowledge. They will speak about the complexities of writing memoir and the shared concerns of their work. An intimate, joyful conversation between South Asian women writers not to be missed. Free and open to the public, RSVP required.
Friday May 1, 2026 6pm, PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL, NYC, “The Lives of Animals: The False Divide Between Humans and Non-Human “ Info here:
Humans are animals who do not think they are animals. How did we grow blind to the astonishing gifts of our kind? Sangamithra Iyer’s new book, Governing Bodies: A Memoir, a Confluence, a Watershed, reckons lyrically with the ways bodies—human, animal, water—are controlled and liberated. In her novel, Only a Little While Here (tr. Heather Cleary), Colombian author María Ospina celebrates animals’ often-overlooked status as witnesses of our shared world, training our attention on the lives of five creatures, including a migratory songbird dazzled by city lights. Kate Zambreno’sAnimal Stories chronicles the deep strangeness of the zoo and considers the work of, among others, John Berger and Franz Kafka in a series of essays exploring mortality, alienation, boredom, and surveillance.
In conversation with Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishan (Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature), these authors will challenge the arbitrary borders between the human and non-human worlds.
Saturday May 2, 2026 2:30 PM Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Open Secrets Magazine Live Summit, New York City, TICKETS
May 14-16, London, More Than Human (MOTH) Conference NYU LONDON
I will be presenting on “The Literary Animal: Exploring Artistic Choices and more than human agency in Governing Bodies: A Memoir, A Confluence, A Watershed”
WINTER 2026
Friday March 13,2026 Queens College Class Visit
Monday February 16, 2026 3:15pm-4:15 pm (Virtual) Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture (Virtual) Register for Free Tickets Panel: Literary Mutations and Generative Partnerships with Valerie Witte, Jhani Randhawa, Maw Shein Win, and me!
Thursday February 19, 2026 7 pm Books that Changed my life Festival , New York, NY More info here. Panel: Lilly Dancinger, Samantha Mann, and Sangamithra Iyer, moderated by Aly Tadros.
Monday January 12, 2026 7 pm Green Apple Books, San Francisco with Shruti Swamy More info here:
Sunday January 18, 2026 3 pm Point Reyes, California with Vijaya Nagarajan at Dance Palace More info here:
SEATTLE
Friday January 16, 2026 7 pm Elliot Bay, Seattle with Joyce Chen RSVP
PORTLAND
Tuesday January 20,2026 6:30 PM Literary Arts, Portland with David Naimon. More info here
FALL 2025
November 4, 2025 – Kew and Willow Books 81-63 Lefferts Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 7:00 PM EST Join me for a reading and discussion of Governing Bodies at my beloved Queens bookstore with Minal Hajratwala.
November 13, 2025 – Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) New York, NY 7:00 PM EST An evening of reading and conversation hosted by AAWW with Rahna Reiko Rizzuto.
November 21, 2025 – New York Public Library – Vartan Gregorian Center Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Room 216 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018 2:00 PM EST A special reading and discussion hosted by the NYPL’s Center for Research in the Humanities. Registration opens soon. Read my essay on my research at the NYPL: “On Catenas, Confluences, and Tethers“
Washington, D.C.:
November 17, 2025 – Bol-Coop Washington D.C. 7:00 PM EST A conversation around the philosophies and process behind Governing Bodies with my brilliant writing partner Leslie Tucker.
November 18, 2025 – Lost City Books 2467 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 7:00 PM EST In conversation with Sunu Chandy. A lively evening of literature and dialogue. RSVP
Boston:
November 19, 2025 – Porter Square Books 50 Liberty Drive, Boston, MA 02210 7:00 PM EST In conversation with E.B. Bartels. exploring grief, animals, writing nonfiction and more. RSVP (NOTE BOSTON LOCATION not Cambridge)
December 3, 2025 Between the Lines Literary Salon in Gloria Steinem’s Living Room. In conversation with Madhur Anand.
Conversation published here.
