ROCKPORT — The Rockport Library Foundation hosts Yashica Dutt, author of the bestselling memoir Coming Out as Dalit, for a presentation on Wednesday, March 12, at 6 p.m., in the lower level of the Rockport Public Library. Dutt will discuss the impact of the South Asian caste system and its ongoing influence in the United States.

Dutt is an internationally acclaimed journalist and among the leading global voices on caste. Dutt's work has been published in the New York Times, Foreign Policy, and The Atlantic; and she has been featured on the BBC, The Guardian, and PBS Newshour. Coming Out as Dalit, which was published in the South Asian subcontinent in 2019, is currently part of the curriculum in over 50 colleges and universities worldwide, including Harvard University, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis. Dutt’s memoir is among the first books written by a Dalit author in English to win the prestigious Indian Arts and Letters Award for young writers in 2020.

The global edition of Coming Out as Dalit was published in 2024 and focuses on the ongoing struggle for caste rights in the US. She graduated from Columbia Journalism School and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

The program is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Please call the Rockport Library at 207-236-3642 to register to attend. A limited number of free copies of Dutt’s memoir will be available to the audience, compliments of Colby College. More information at rockportlibrary.net.

The attached photo of Yashica Dutt and the cover of her memoir are provided with permission to use.