In-Person

World Books with Elizabeth Jackson

Friday, September 18, 2026 | 12:00pm

Sep 18

Explore literary fiction written in English by prominent authors from outside of Europe and north America. In 2026, we'll focus on Indian writers, discussing classic works by six of the most famous Indian authors writing in English during the postcolonial era.

The journey began in the spring and continues this fall:

August 21: Salman Rushdie's East, West (1994), an eclectic collection of short stories by one of the world's most controversial and critically acclaimed contemporary writers.
September 18: Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (1997), an unforgettable novel that critiques gender and caste inequalities in India.
October 16: Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger (2008) is a Booker Prize winner which was made into a popular film.

Free to Mercantile members and their guests. After August 21 session, email hillary@mercantilelibrary.com to register.

About Elizabeth Jackson: Growing uprew up in five different nations and as a dual US/UK citizen, Jackson has always been interested in literature from around the world. She has a BA from Smith College in the US and a PhD from the University of London in Britain. From 2011 until her retirement in 2024, she was a Professor of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, where she taught a range of courses in English, American, and postcolonial literatures. She is the author of numerous articles in academic journals and three books: Feminism and Contemporary Indian Women's Writing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); Muslim Indian Women Writing in English: Class Privilege, Gender Disadvantage, Minority Status (Peter Lang, 2017); and Global Childhoods and Cosmopolitan Identities in Literature (2022).