Stories We Inherit

Gigi L. Leung and Intan Paramaditha

Join these authors as they discuss the forces that shape characters lives

Political upheaval and personal identity collide in this compelling conversation between two daring novelists.

In Gigi L. Leung’s Everyday Movement, two university roommates and their circle of friends navigate their normal lives while also living through Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, confronting questions of identity, democracy, and belonging.

In Intan Paramaditha’s Night of a Thousand Hells, three sisters grapple with grief and their grandmother’s haunting prophecies when the youngest commits a devastating act of violence. Together, Leung and Paramaditha explore memory, fear, political unrest and the forces that shape our lives.

Leung’s appearance is generously supported by Taipei Cultural Center in New York.

Cross borders with some of today’s finest fiction in translation, read by the authors themselves at a showcase of stories that feel necessary right now.

Hear from authors Nelio Biedermann, Gaël Faye, Intan Paramaditha and Samanta Schweblin in this live reading showcase and discussion, moderated by Hope Ndaba.

Much of the most vital fiction written today isn’t written in English. And yet it is finding a hungry audience in the English-speaking world.

In the UK, sales of translated fiction increased by 31% from 2016 to 2025, with more than half of all translated fiction being bought by people under the age of 35.

Discover voices that cross borders, languages and forms in this celebration of translated fiction, bringing together authors from Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Founded by Dua Lipa, the Service95 Book Club is a space to enjoy all things literary, including Dua’s hand-picked Monthly Reads and her exclusive author interviews, plus new book trends, recommendations from the Service95 team and more ways for you to read the world differently.

Intan Paramaditha is an award-winning Indonesian novelist, short-story writer, and scholar. Her story collection Apple and Knife is part of the Vintage Classics Weird Girls series, and her novel The Wandering was longlisted for the Stella Prize and received the English PEN Translates Award. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches at Macquarie University, Sydney. She is co-founder of the feminist collective Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan.

We are delighted to be hosting Intan for her latest novel, A Night of a Thousand Hells, a haunting story subversively blending Islamic mysticism, horror, and political reckoning, all seen through the ghostly lens of Indonesian folklore and occult traditions.

THREE SISTERS. A CARETAKER, A TRAVELLER, AND A BRIDE.

Mutiara and Maya's lives are irrevocably altered when their younger sister Annisa straps a bomb to her waist and commits a devastating act.

As they grapple with grief, guilt, and unanswered questions, their search leads them to long-concealed secrets, forsaken family bonds, and the unsettling prophecies of their grandmother, whose enigmatic wisdom has shaped the destinies of women across generations.

Four exciting novelists explore identity, inheritance and the secrets that bind families across borders. 

Avni Doshi and Intan Paramaditha discuss myth, the uncanny, marriage, family and hidden violence in their latest fictions with Alexandra Pringle, former Bloomsbury editor in chief and author.

Laleh Khadivi and Amy Abdelnoor explore identity, inheritance, belonging, displacement and family secrets across borders with writer and Publishing Director at Saqi Books Elizabeth Briggs.

‘Vivid and evocative.’
Juliet Stevenson on Ever Land 

 ‘A laugh-out-loud, shocking, moving and deeply human story that illuminates the complexity of Iran’s history and its people.’
Nguyen Phan Que Mai on Female Life on Planet Earth 

‘The First House reads like something out of mythology, laced with a surreal and sinister magic.’
Katie Yee, author of Maggie

‘Night of a Thousand Hells shows what it means to be a woman, and especially an Asian woman, in this fierce and relentless world. Paramaditha understands every glorious, perilous, bloody, unbearable, and stunning moment that comprises the million different facets of the brilliant entirety that is womanhood.’
Bora Chung, author of Cursed Bunny

An association with Lahore Literary Festival, promoting stories and writers of South Asian heritage.

Saturday 17 October 2026 | 5:40 pm | £ 10.00

Limited number of free tickets to residents in postcodes CR4, CR7, SM3 and SM4 (restricted to two free tickets per event, per household).

Aged 16-29? Sign up for £10 tickets and no booking fee!
*Enter your date of birth when you sign up. £10 tickets subject to availability

This event is in partnership with Merton Libraries, part of Merton’s National Portfolio Organisation funded by Arts Council England.

Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith for an in-store event with author Intan Paramaditha to discuss and honor the release of Night of a Thousand Hells.

”An unforgiving tale of political horror and womanhood by a writer that is fearless.” —Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night

A propulsive work of feminist gothic that blends Indonesian folklore with Islamic mysticism and examines the tension between freedom and responsibility, violence and care, familial obligation and the limits of sisterhood.

Night of a Thousand Hells is the story of three sisters: the caretaker, the traveler, and the bride. Mutiara and Maya find their lives irrevocably altered when their younger sister, Annisa, straps a bomb to her chest and commits a devastating act of violence. What led Annisa to such an abominable act? As her surviving sisters grapple with grief, guilt, and unanswered questions, their search leads them to long-concealed secrets, forsaken family bonds, and the unsettling prophecies of their grandmother, whose enigmatic wisdom has shaped the destinies of women across generations.

Intan Paramaditha is an international literary sensation whose Night of a Thousand Hells, translated brilliantly by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, is an urgent, haunting, and subversive blend of mysticism, horror, domestic drama, and social novel that defies genres and expectations.

Intan Paramaditha is an Indonesian author and a Harvard Radcliffe Fellow. Her story collection Apple and Knife is part of the Vintage Classics Weird Girls series, and her novel The Wandering was longlisted for the Stella Prize and received the English PEN Translates Award. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches at Macquarie University, Sydney. She is co-founder of the feminist collective Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan.

As summer gives way to autumn, PEN America and P&T Knitwear are thrilled to welcome Intan Paramaditha and Mathilda Zeller for a conversation about their new releases, two haunting and unforgettable books that explore folklore, mysticism, horror, grief, and the complicated bonds of sisterhood.

In Mathilda Zeller’s horror debut, It Looks Like You in the Dark, Alaskan Native folklore meets supernatural suspense in a story of monsters, men, grief, and rage, with a sister’s love at its heart.

Intan Paramaditha’s Night of a Thousand Hells, longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award, weaves Indonesian folklore and Islamic mysticism into a chilling exploration of violence and complicity, care and harm, familial love, and the limits of sisterhood.

Moderated by Steph Pilavin, the evening will bring these two writers together to discuss stories of sisterhood, tragedy, and the monsters that may be closer to home than we think.

P&T Knitwear and PEN America are proud to present this conversation celebrating genre fiction and the writers and readers who make it so great. This conversation is open to all ages, but please use your best judgment, as some topics may be explicit.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, with the talk starting closer to 7:00 pm. Come early and grab a drink from the P&T Cafe!​

Tickets and books are available both on Eventbrite and at the door.

Scholars and artists gathered at Emory for a multi-day workshop discussing the nature of ethnographic storytelling — and how it might be reinvented — will share creative insights during a free public performance and showcase on Friday, Sept. 25. 

“Experiments with Ethnography: Performing the Creative Humanities” will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Emory Performing Arts Studio in the Burlington Road Building. An RSVP is requested.

Highlights of the sensory-rich evening will include:

• Singer-songwriter and Emory PhD candidate Courtney A. Bowden performing “Songs of My Dissertation” 

• A series of readings from anthropologist Danilyn Rutherford, whose recent work “Beautiful Mystery: Living in a Wordless World” explores the sensory worlds of individuals with profound intellectual disabilities; author Intan Paramaditha, whose genre-bending novel “Night of a Thousand Hells” is a decolonial, feminist exploration of Asian folklore; and anthropologist and folklorist Kirin Narayan, whose acclaimed work “Cave of My Ancestors” bridges storytelling with scholarship

• A screening of anthropologist and filmmaker Yasmin Moll’s animated short film “Hanina/Homesick,” which explores race, landscape and Nubian displacement within Egypt. 

• A performance by anthropologist Su’ad Abdul Khabeer of her powerful, dramatic monologue on Black Muslim histories, “Umi Says”

After the presentations, audience members can join performers and professors for a roundtable discussion of their works and anthropological exploration. The roundtable Q&A session will be filmed for the American Anthropologist YouTube channel, capturing these vital conversations for a global academic audience.

Reframing research perspectives

The showcase is the culmination of a multi-day series of academic workshops and panels focused on anthropological research, inviting a broader audience into the conversations. 

The events are hosted by James Hoesterey, associate professor and chair of Emory’s Department of Religion. Hoesterey champions new methods transforming how ethnographic studies — those where researchers immerse themselves in the everyday environment of the culture being studied — are conducted, presented and integrated into university curricula.

According to Hoestrey, the conference aims to engage the Emory community “not in a didactic way that just tells people what to think, but in a way that promotes conversation.” This approach reflects the holistic learning environment Hoestrey has found at Emory. 

“I’m lucky to be here [at Emory],” says Hoestrey, “and anthropology here at Emory has a long history in these conversations, both in methodology and visual form.”

The conference features an extraordinary roster of pioneering scholars and artists in its multi-day series of academic workshops and panels. These intensive programs will cover a breadth of topics including proposal writing, creative writing and ethnographic drafting.

“Experiments with Ethnography: Performing the Creative Humanities” is made possible through the Office of the Provost’s Emory Initiative for Arts and Humanistic Inquiry.