DALLAS TWP. — Author Anand Prahlad, Ph.D., will discuss his award-winning memoir, “The Secret Life of a Black Aspie,” and his life growing up black with undiagnosed autism during a free lecture at Misericordia University on Monday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in Huntzinger and Alden Trust Rooms 218-219 of Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall. A book signing will follow.
Prahlad’s lecture, “Autism and the Hierarchy of Senses: A Lecture and Reading,” is sponsored by the Medical and Health Humanities Program, the Soyka Fund for the Humanities and the Autism Center at Misericordia University. Prahlad’s Permafrost Prize-winning book offers a journey that takes readers from his beginnings of being born on a former plantation in rural Virginia, across the United States and through historic moments in American culture, as seen through the eyes of an Aspie – a person with Asperger’s syndrome. Undiagnosed as a child, he did not speak for the first four years of his life.
The book’s narrative “reveals the mind of a deeply sensitive being whose perspective defies convention and whose experiences of autism, race and gender defy definition,” according to Prahlad’s website.
“Rooted in black folklore and cultural ambience, ‘The Secret Life of a Black Aspie,’ can, at moments, inspire and delight, evoke empathy, and deepen our understanding of the liminal realms and marginal spaces of human existence,” the author’s website added. “Along the way, he sleeps on the beach, performs in a reggae band, writes poetry, follows a guru, teaches inner-city children, becomes a father, earns a doctorate, survives an earthquake, and finds love.”
Prahlad has published two books of poems, “Hear My Story and Other Poems,” and “As Good as Mango.” In addition, he has published poems and creative nonfiction in literary journals, such as “Fifth Wednesday,” “Water-Stone Review,” “Copper Nickle,” “Pleiades,” “The Chariton Review” and “Natural Bridge.” He recently completed a new collection of poetry, “Hijra,” which focuses on black third-gender identity.
Prahlad is a folklorist and a fellow in the American Folklore Society. He has published critical articles and books on black folklore and proverbs, including “Reggae Wisdom: Proverbs in Jamaican Music and African American Proverbs in Context.” He edited the three-volume set, “The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore,” and the one-volume, “The Greenwood Student Encyclopedia of African American Folklore.”
In addition, Prahlad is a songwriter and musician who plays multiple instruments, including the mbira from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. He released an original blues CD, “Hover Near,” in 2008, and is working on a second CD. He is a cofounder of the Chiyedza Mbira Ensemble, which has performed throughout the United States with internationally renowned artists, including Musekiwa Chingodza.
Prahlad holds an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of Califo
For additional information about the lecture, please contact Amanda Caleb, Ph.D., director of the Medical and Health Humanities Program, who holds a joint appointment as associate professor of English and Medical and Health Humanities, at acaleb@misericordia.edu or 570-674-8113.
