A Conversation with Authors Sarina Dahlan '98 and S. B. Divya MEng '00

Join us for the final installment of our 2024-25 Signature Event Series featuring distinguished alumni authors Sarina Dahlan ’98 and S.B. Divya MEng ’00. Drawing from their entire body of work, the authors will explore how speculative fiction can address timely societal issues, including identity, memory and technology.

This special evening offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from two acclaimed authors whose experiences as women of color in STEM and the arts inform their storytelling. Attendees will gain insight into the authors’ creative processes, the cultural and scientific influences behind their work and how their stories engage with timely societal themes.

The reception and moderated conversation are free and open to the public with registration required. Copies of their books will be available for purchase from the UC San Diego Bookstore during the reception.

This event is part of the Library’s Signature Event Series, established in 2020 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Geisel Library and made possible through the generous support of Library Associates. Become one today!

Sarina Dahlan ’98 is the author of the bestselling Four Cities trilogy — “Reset,” “Preset” and “Freeset” — as well as “Shadow Play: Ten Tales from the In-between.” Born into an Indonesian family in Thailand and immigrating to the United States at age 12, Dahlan brings a global perspective to her work, influenced by folklore, mythology and Japanese manga. A UC San Diego alumna with degrees in psychology and visual arts, her writing explores memory, identity and the cost of utopia.

S.B. Divya MEng ’00 is a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated author whose work bridges hard science and imaginative storytelling. Her novels include “Machinehood,” “Meru” and “Loka,” which examine themes such as automation, cultural identity and artificial intelligence. A former electrical engineer with degrees in computational neuroscience and signal processing from UC San Diego, Divya’s fiction often reflects her technical background and challenges conventional genre boundaries.

Geisel Library, Seuss Room on the 2nd (main) floor.

Details for complimentary parking included in confirmation.

Contact: Taylor Haglund, dWNzZGxpYnJhcnkgfCB1Y3NkICEgZWR1

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