A message from Thomas M. Lauderdale:
Hello friends!
Despite the blizzard, my best friend from college (and former fiancée) Tanya Selvaratnam* will be at 728 SW 1st Street in Portland, Sunday, February 9 at 7:30pm, reading from her just-released and much-talked-about book, The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism and the Reality of the Biological Clock. A post-reading conversation led by Portland State University Professor (and rock star/cultural critic/mother) Sarah Dougher will follow.
The Big Lie is a candid assessment of the pros and cons of delayed motherhood. Part memoir, part manifesto, Tanya describes her emotional journey through multiple miscarriages after the age of 37. Her doctor told her she still “had time,” but Selvaratnam found little reliable and often conflicting information about a mature woman’s biological ability (or inability) to conceive. Through in-depth reporting and her own experience, The Big Lie confronts the questions that will enable women to make smarter choices about their reproductive futures and to strike a more realistic balance between science, society and personal goals.
Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Long Beach, California, Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, producer, theater artist and activist. As a producer, recent projects include Mickalene Thomas’s Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman (forthcoming on HBO); the Rockefeller Foundation-funded MADE HERE; Catherine Gund’s What’s On Your Plate? (Discovery’s Planet Green) and Chiara Clemente’s Beginnings (Sundance Channel, Webby Award). Since 2008, she has been the Communications and Special Projects Officer for the Rubell Family Collection. As an activist, she has worked with the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Third Wave Foundation, the NGO Forum on Women and the World Health Organization. She received her graduate and undergraduate degrees in Chinese language and history from Harvard University. In other words, she’s pretty fancy! For more information visit www.tanyaturnsup.com.
Watch Tanya discuss her book:
Tanya Selvaratnam on her book “The Big Lie” from Tanya Selvaratnam on Vimeo.
