Author Ruby Lal in conversation with Cleveland Museum of Art curator Sonya Rhie Mace

Almost 500 years ago, a 53-year-old woman led a daring expedition of women travelers across land and sea, endured a shipwreck, and lived to tell the tale. Her name was Gulbadan, a Mughal princess you've probably never heard of--until now.

Supported by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Dr. Ruby Lal will give a free presentation about her new book, Vagabond Princess, at Loganberry Books in conversation with Cleveland Museum of Art curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Sonya Rhie Mace. They will explore Gulbadan's life in the context of the early Mughal empire; her later-life adventure leading an expedition of harem women on pilgrimage in Arabia; and most tantalizingly of all, her memoirs, the only extant work of prose by a woman of the age, from which a portion is missing. Were Gulbadan's words lost to history or redacted by officials who didn't want this woman, whom some have called "a Mughal Jane Austen," to have her say?

Ruby Lal, an award-winning historian and South Asian history professor at Emory University, is renowned for restoring the erased female figures of the Mughal Empire. Her latest book, Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan, longlisted for the Cundill History Prize, has received critical acclaim in the US, UK, and India. Her previous biography, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Lal's forthcoming book, Tiger-Slayer, is an illustrated remix of Empress for young adults. An international speaker, she has received numerous fellowships from institutions like the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

Sonya Rhie Mace joined the Cleveland Museum of Art as George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian art in 2012, and in 2013 secured the acquisition of Mughal and Deccan paintings from the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection, the subject the exhibition Art and Stories from Mughal India (2016). She completed her BA at Smith College and holds a PhD in Indian and South Asian art history from Harvard University.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 63,000 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the leading encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.

Loganberry Books is an independent bookstore in Cleveland's historic Larchmere District, established in 1994. Featuring new, used, and rare books, Loganberry now holds over 130,000 volumes and offers various community gatherings, lectures, book signings, art exhibitions, and special events throughout the year.