Join us for the next installment of our Signature Event Series featuring distinguished alumni authors Sarina Dahlan ’98 and S.B. Divya MEng ’00. Drawing from their latest works, “Freeset” and “Loka,” the authors will explore how speculative fiction can address timely societal issues, including identity, memory and technology.

The conversation will be moderated by Jac Jemc, Teaching Professor of Literary Arts and Faculty Director of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and will take place on Wednesday, May 28, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Seuss Room at Geisel Library. Admission is free and open to the public with required registration. Books will be available for purchase from the UC San Diego Bookstore during the reception, including the following titles:

• Sarina Dahlan '98
  • “Freeset” 
  • “Preset”
  • “Reset” 
• S.B. Divya MEng '00
  • “Machinehood” 
  • “Runtime” 
  • “Meru” (limited quantity)
  • “Loka” (limited quantity)

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 sponsors and Library Associates.

About the Authors

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 from the School of Social Sciences and visual arts from the School of Arts & Humanities, 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's Jacobs School of Engineering, Divya’s fiction often reflects her technical background and challenges conventional genre boundaries.