P r i n c i pa l S p o n s o r
london & the uk 7–24 October 2011 Official Souvenir Programme
Festival produced by amphora arts
Rewarding the best in South Asian writing
The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is now in its second year. The Prize celebrates writing that highlights the South Asian region, its people, culture and diaspora. It is unique as it transcends the origin and ethnicity of the author and is open to authors belonging to any part of the globe as long as the work is based on the South Asian region and its people. The inaugural year had been a great success and we look forward to your continued support and participation this year and in the years to come. The shortlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 will be announced in London on 24th October, 2011 as part of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival.
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elcome to the 2nd production of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival. This year, we’re extremely proud to welcome you to an eclectic mix of over 50 events spanning the month of October, with over 80 speakers at 17 different venues in London and in selected parts of the UK! Indeed, since our first Festival last year we have grown not only in size, but also in the way we continue to reach new audiences. There is a genuine appetite for South Asian writing that has really taken root in the past year, and the many different interpretations of what the genre means (and what is possible within it) has thrown up some exciting possibilities. This is no more in evidence than in this year’s programme. It has been a real treat to see the many themes and ideas take shape –there’s our first exhibition (p. 20), storytelling for families (p. 22, 28, 31), and the powerful force of literary narratives in Bhutan (p. 22), Afghanistan (p. 21) and Kashmir (p. 21). We explore the crucial art of translated literature (p. 30 and 35), plus literature translated into films (p. 27) and graphic novels (p. 24 and 37). And another first for the festival – a new commission interpreting Tagore’s Borderland through music, visual arts and poetry (p. 15). There’s so much more to discover; dynamic writers and performers, and brilliant new books from the firmly established voices in South Asian writing. Our ‘at a glance’ section (p. 40-41) offers a bird’s-eye view of proceedings. We hope you agree there’s something for everyone. Enjoy the show! Bhavit Mehta Festival Director
Jon Slack Festival Director
Contents Festival Features
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10
What Price for Too Asian, Not Women’s Rights? Asian Enough?
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12
An Unequal Music
Sri Lankan Writing
15
Borderland
11
On Translating Indian Languages
14
The Taqwacores
16
Q&A with HM Naqvi
Sponsors & Partners Opening Weekend at Rich Mix Event Listings The Festival at a Glance Speaker Index Festival Highlights 2010 Festival Friends Scheme The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature The Festival Team/Thank you Tickets and Venue Information
2 4 20 40 43 60 62 63 64 back, inside cover
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Sponsors & Partners A Word from our Patrons I am delighted to welcome you all to the 2nd DSC South Asian Literature Festival! The DSC Group is a diversified global business with interests ranging from infrastructure to hospitality, trading, real estate and retailing. From many years ago DSC identified the promotion of literature as a key initiative, as it believes that promoting literature helps build the character of society. We at DSC have been the principal sponsors of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, the largest literary event of its kind in the region, and were proud to support Bhavit Mehta and Jon Slack last year as they endeavoured to imaginatively combine South Asian literature with various other art forms and present them through events in London and the rest of the UK. Indeed, we are pleased to be the title sponsors once again in 2011 and see the Festival grow. As a natural extension of our vision to promote literature, we began the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, with a prize tag of USD 50,000, last year. Amongst the many highlights of this year’s Festival will be the Shortlist Reception for the DSC Prize which will be announced on the 24th of October at Shakespeare’s Globe. A rich literary fare is in store and I hope you enjoy attending the coming events as much as I am going to! Surina Narula
Principal sponsoR
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Festival sponsors
hotel sponsor
Festival partners
venue partners
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OPENING WEEKEND OFFER!
Purchase an all-weekend ticket (£20) or all-day ticket (£12 each day) by 30 September and get up to £20 back in book vouchers. TERMS AND CONDITIONS • Children under 8 go free with an adult. • Events, speakers and times are subject to change. • Book vouchers are only valid to use at Rich Mix on October 8–9 and cannot be exchanged for cash, nor will change be issued for any remaining balance.
Opening Weekend at
th
MAIN STAGE
Opening Night Reception see p20
Sonia Gandhi: In a New Light see p20
Kashmir Heritage Poetry: A Tribute to Agha Shahid Ali see p21
A New Story for Afghanistan: In Poems, Books and Song see p21
Borderland see p23
Strong Women in Fiction see p25
Kashmir Black & White: Stories From a Troubled Land see p26
Not Just For Laughs: A Light Take on the Serious Stuff see p27
MEZZANINE
Malik Sajad’s ‘Endangered Species’ see p20
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BOOKSTORE
Hosted by the Brick Lane Bookshop www.bricklane bookshop.com
rd
1st
Allen Ginsberg’s Indian Journals see p27
CAFE
Hosted by ScarletDot www.scarlet dot.co.uk
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THEATRE VENUE 2 MEETING ROOM MEZZANINE GALLERY BOOKSTORE MAIN STAGE KIDS CORNER CAFE
KIDS CORNER
Afindica – The Story of the Ethical Elephants see p22
Mr Jeejeebhoy And The Birds see p22
The Glum Peacock see p22
School for Princes – Stories from the Panchatantra see p28
Little Yash Has Lost His Smile see p28
Tales from India see p28
Narratives of the Faraway: Creative Writing in Bhutan see p22
Inner Birds; Modern Flight see p23
Bangladeshi Literature: Traditions to Timeless see p24
Grand Trunk Road see p25
Land of Enchantment of the Senses : Stories from the Hamzanama see p26
THEATRE
MEETING ROOM
VENUE 2
A Way With Words see p21
Indian Mythology-A Graphic look see p24
24-Hour Book Project see p20 5
the magazine of new writing
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Published in book form four times a year, Granta is respected around the world for its mix of outstanding new fiction, reportage, memoir and photography in every issue. Granta brings you the work of both emerging writers and distinguished names. Over the years, it has introduced its readers to new writing from Jayne Anne Phillips, Arundhati Roy, Martin Amis, Kamila Shamsie, Robert Macfarlane, Rana Dasgupta, Salman Rushdie, Annie Proulx, Daniel Alarcón and Urvashi Butalia, to name just a few. *********************************************************************************
G116: Ten Years LaTer A street vendor in Tunisia, an American marine going home and a signals operator on a North Korean fishing trawler. From the battlefields of Afghanistan to the streets of Mogadishu and Toronto, these are just a few of the stories in the new issue of Granta that conjure the complexity and sorrow of life since 11 September 2001. With contributions from Nadeem Aslam, Janine di Giovanni, Nicole Krauss, Declan Walsh and more.
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International Contemporary Writing
Fiction • Poetry • Essays • Interviews • Reviews • Art
Wasafiri online
Fully searchable • Regular and up-to-date information on news, events and competitions • Subscribe online • Purchase back issues
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24-Hour Book 2011 The difficult second book
Once upon a time…
In 2009 a crack commando unit of writers and editors were locked in a London office tasked with publishing a book in 24 hours. These men and women promptly produced a unique work of fiction – A Vauxhall Chorus – before returning to the publishing underworld. Today, still writing, proofing and editing books, they survive as publishers of fortune, now tasked with their biggest literary challenge yet... the difficult second book.
The book will be printed using the latest print-ondemand technology and published under a Creative Commons license. Available to buy by the end of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival, with all proceeds going to Room to Read, a charity that encourages literacy and access to reading material by distributing books throughout the world. All proceeds of book sales to Room to Read
Their mission
To co-ordinate a group of experienced writers and publishers across two major international cities – London and Delhi – working together to write and edit a new South Asian-themed story from scratch in just 24 hours.
Sounds like fun, right?
On Saturday 8th October writers armed with just their imaginations, a lot of digital ink, and an industrial quantity of coffee, will commence the writing process. Then, on Sunday 9th October a group of volunteer editors will move in to make the story ready for publication in the final 12 hours.
Follow @24hrbook and on hashtag #24hrbook
If you would like to get involved with making the book, and are an experienced writer, proofreader, copy-editor or typesetter (or a combination of the above), we want to hear from you!
www.facebook.com/24hourbook www.southasianlitfest.com/24hourbook
partners
fast facts 2009 12 hours writing • 12 hours editing • 1 night printing • 1 small office in Lambeth • 148 pages • 14 writers • 17 editors • 42 online contributors • 261 tweets • 843 cups of coffee • 774,652 keystrokes • 1 HELL OF A LAUNCH PARTY!
What Price for Women’s rights?
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What price for women’s rights?” is the question at the heart of the event I am chairing with writer Sonia Faleiro, whose heartrending new book, Beautiful Thing, exposes the lives of exploited female bar dancers in Bombay. Yet even amidst extreme suffering, the narrator finds the wryness, humour and warmth essential to her survival.
put ribbons in your hair, bangles on your arms, anklets on your feet, teach you to sing and dance and bake cakes, but what about the Inside-you?” – so says a character in Kishwar Desai’s Witness the Night. Desai and Faleiro lay bare that “Inside-you”, depicting both complex interior lives and the exterior world with which these characters are so often in conflict.
How particular and how universal are the struggles facing women? We will be discussing the issues arising from a vividly conjured locality in the context of the centuries of struggle for women’s rights in Britain and around the world. What price for the right to write at all? We see women who challenge the label of “women writer” and in doing so, writing by women (and featuring female characters) has changed and evolved over the years. The South Asian women at work today draw on a rich literary history while forging unique voices of their own.
These stories that come in all shapes and sizes: there is nonfiction, there is fiction, there is poetry, reflecting experience through a myriad of exhilarating linguistic forms. These writers unflinchingly tackle the most brutal injustices in society, such as the “tradition of culling our girl children”. In this new generation, voices ring with all the force of life – and the possibilities of literature.
“Trying to be a girl is not easy. There are few comforts that you are born with or can achieve. I know, they dress you in frocks and
All proceeds from the event ‘What Price for Women’s Rights’ go to the Consortium for Street Children.
In this new generation, voices ring with all the force of life – and the possibilities of literature.
EVENT INFO The Dancing Girls of Bombay What Price for Women’s RIghts?
19 October, 6:30pm £5 | The Women’s Library See p35 for more info Strong Women in Fiction
By Anita Sethi 9 October, 1:30pm Rich Mix | £ weekend offer See p25 for more info 9
Too Asian, Not Asian Enough Challenging the status quo
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here are a small number of narratives that we see again and again in British Asian writing: realistic stories about culture clashes and generation gaps, stories about oppressive traditional parents holding their children back from enjoying the pleasures of Western life, and more recently, stories about radicalised Muslims.
freedom to write about other places and other times. Some of the contributors do want to write about characters of South Asian origin, but feel that those stories that we see so often have nothing to do with their lives, or they simply don’t interest them.
Since the British Asian label carries certain regional and class connotations, those writers and These narratives have become their stories that don’t conform synonymous with the British Asian to this version of Asianness are brand. But for many British Asian often not considered to be gritty, writers, the pressure to continue to authentic, Asian enough. We write these stories – since they’ve find stories in this anthology that become bankable, marketable complicate this idea of British formulas – means that the British Asianness. Asian label becomes stifling. This anthology brings some of those Then there are writers who do writers together. We made it identify with the themes of those clear to contributors before they familiar stories but who want to submitted their work that they find fresh ways to write about could write about anything they them, with more depth, complexity liked; they would not be told that and compassion. their stories were too Asian or not Asian enough. By bringing these writers and their stories together, we challenge this There are writers in Too Asian, Not British Asian label: broaden it, Asian Enough who don’t want to change it, make it new. write about their lives, who don’t want to be restricted in terms of By Kavita Bhanot subject matter. They want the 10
… those writers that don’t conform to this version of Asianness are often not considered to be gritty, authentic, Asian enough.
EVENT INFO Too Asian, Not Asian Enough In association with Tindal Street Press
15 October, 6–7:30pm £5 or £12 all day ticket freeword centre See p31 for more info
On Translating Indian Languages
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language reflects a culture. Translating a work of fiction involves translating the cultural characters, context and dialogue. But translating into what? Should the outcome be a set of cultural constructs that readers in the target language can identify? Or should these constructs remain alien, since they originate in a different geography? These questions were central to my translations of three novellas by Rabindranath Tagore. The setting of the first, published in 1901, appears to be the last years of the 19th century, while the other two are set in the 1930s, against the backdrop of India’s struggle for freedom. The challenge of choice was posed – just what kind of English should be used in 2010? Should the translation reveal how Tagore might have written these novellas in English? Or, should the translations read like original novellas by someone who wrote in English working with the same material? The distinction is important, since the two languages are so fundamentally different.
There was a third alternative based on the premise that any work of fiction is written for contemporary readers, not for posterity. For such readers, the language was obviously contemporary, whether EVENT INFO in 1901, 1933 or 1934. Then Translating from Indian why not maintain the spirit of Languages contemporary writing even when translating Tagore in 2010? Eventually, I worked on the translations with the idea that the stories themselves provide the historical contexts sufficiently; the language of the translations was aimed at capturing the content, register and original nuances, but without creating distance. Thus, the vocabulary and grammar of the translations are modern but not trendy. Above all, I attempted to make the language as close as possible to the tones of English without compromising the original.
15 October, 6–7:30pm £5 or £12 all day ticket freeword centre See p30 for more info
Adapted from ‘The Translator’s Note’ to Three Women by Rabindranath Tagore, published by Random House India.
Tagore Lost (and found) in Translation
By Arunava Sinha
17 october, 7PM FREE | uEA, norwich See p35 for more info
Literatre in Translaton Indian Languages (Norwich)
17 october, 7PM FREE | uEA, norwich See p34 for more info
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An Unequal Music
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omosexual representations within South Asian art and literature are invariably contentious. Despite recent advances, cultural laws, custom and stigma in the region mean that many gay writers remain closeted, while others are vilified. This has ramifications. Vikram Seth and Neel Mukherjee write about homosexuality while in a state of self-imposed exile; Seth is notably reluctant to speak about his bisexuality publicly. When South Asian films which depict homosexual relationships – like Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette or Deepa Mehta’s Fire – gain acclaim, religious and nationalist groups rise up to condemn these representations, stating that homosexuality is “anti-Pakistani”, “un-Islamic” or “against Indian morality”. These attitudes, as well as obliterating the rich homosexual culture in South Asia, is a bizarre appropriation of British Victorian official values of morality – as if heterosexuality has always been a requisite of South Asian culture. Yet prior to colonial rule, South Asian literature was awash with 12
homosexual love. The first Mughal Emperor, Babur – who effectively brought Islam to South Asia – writes passionately of his love for a boy in his memoir. Interestingly, the prominent colonial and closeted homosexual writer E.M. Forster deliberately censors this detail; in “The Emperor Babur”, Forster quotes from the memoir, lifting the sentences just before the description of Babur’s relationship with the boy, but omitting what follows. Indeed, the arrival of the British Empire in South Asia brought with it colonial pruderies about sex and sexuality. One of the Empire’s legacies was Section 377, which criminalised homosexual relations (repealed only in 2009). Historical texts previously lost or censored are, happily, returning to the literary canon, while new queer South Asian writers are more vocal and visible. But lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer South Asians are still marginalised, and equality for many is still a distant dream. The role of literature is fundamental, for it is wider representation that breeds wider acceptance. By Iman Qureshi
The first Mughal Emperor, Babur – who effectively brought Islam to South Asia – writes passionately of his love for a boy in his memoir.
EVENT INFO Same-same Sex, Love and Other Queer-ies
18 October, 6:30pm Royal Vauxhall Tavern See p34 for more info
Sri Lankan writing A new dawn
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hen I started out, Sri Lankan fiction – whether in English, Tamil or Sinhala – was hard to find. There were gems, but in London you had to dig deep into a specialist library shelf to spot them. Although in Sri Lanka the written word goes back millennia, its fiction did not seem to matter much to anyone anywhere.
amid a growing number of readers and writers wanting to imagine the reality around them, understand the catastrophes of recent decades, and go beyond.
For me, Sri Lanka at its best has been a place of plurality, although in recent years that has often been under serious threat. Since Sinbad stumbled into it, the island draws in writers and storytellers from I was told, at the time, that slim all over the world. Over the last books of fiction were rare in 20 years, Sri Lankan-born writers England. The outlook was not have been writing all over the promising. My first novel, Monkfish world and within Sri Lanka itself, Moon, came out in 1992 and made transforming our ideas of place a bit of a splash. Things began and identity. to change. Now I hear a new eclectic Two years later, with Reef on the generation of Sri Lankans, born Booker shortlist, the map of the in and outside the country. Soon, fictional world shifted a little, at I hope, their books and the ones least for me. I visited Colombo before will be hard to miss on and found a real buzz about books. any shelf. People flocked to book events. Despite an escalating war and By Romesh Gunesekera political turbulence, the appetite for writing was palpable. By the Romesh Gunesekera’s latest novel time The Sandglass was published, The Prisoner of Paradise, will be new bookshops blossomed and published by Bloomsbury in a Sri Lankan writing prize was February 2012. established. Soon, new publishers were on the scene in Colombo
For me, Sri Lanka at its best has been a place of plurality, although in recent years that has often been under serious threat.
EVENT INFO The Last Colonial Curious Stories and Adventures from a Vanishing World
21 October, 6:30–8pm British Library See p36 for more info 13
The Taqwacores Islamic Punk
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he fictional and delightfully unique premise of Michael Muhammed Knight’s novel The Taqwacores has spawned a slew of Muslim punk bands across America; with names like ‘The Kominas’ (‘The Bastards’) and Al-Thawra (The Revolution), and inflammatory attitudes to match, they are living embodiment of the maxim that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. The portmanteau ‘Taqwacores’ is something of an oxymoron: although taqwa is a word that does not translate easily, it signifies fortifying oneself against all that is detrimental to a good relationship with Allah; ‘cores’, on the other hand, is a reference to the hardcore punk rock scene – replete with drink, drugs and all things unholy – that the book describes. While the funny and irreverent novel deals with an imagined form of Islam practised by a group of young Muslims in America, it also delves into what it means to be an immigrant in a society with different social and moral codes from ones own.
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Originally from an Irish Catholic background, Knight was inspired in his teens to examine Islam by Malcolm X and the AfricanAmerican Islamic tradition; he subsequently converted, and describes his own experience of Islam as “socially South Asian and intellectually black. The first mosque that I attended, in upstate New York, was 85% PakistaniAmerican; the first Muslimmajority nation that I ever visited was Pakistan; and I’m married into an Indian-American Muslim family.” The film version of his book is cool and edgy, and draws you into a world that is both very familiar and very alien. “Allah is too big, too open, for my Islam to be small and closed,” declares one of the maverick characters, a West-coast punk with a fiery red Mohawk; his statement sums up the spirit of both book and film – find your own individual niche, and if it involves marrying religion and rock, then so be it. By Radha spratt
Allah is too big, too open, for my Islam to be small and closed.
EVENT INFO Islamic Punk From Fiction to Reality
9 October, 4:30pm Rich Mix See p27 for more info
Borderland
With Soumik Datta What inspired you to create Borderland? Borderland is the translated title of one of Tagore’s poems. Through music and performance poetry, the show explores the various “borders” in modern life today. Over the last year, my company, Baithak, has begun creating a catalogue of live stage shows. Merging music, art, film, lighting and story, they look and feel completely different from generic music concerts. Circle of Sound was the first in this series; Borderland comes next. What role has Tagore played in your life? My mum, Sangeeta Datta, is a recognised authority on Tagore, and home was filled with Tagore’s books and tapes. I discovered the sarod and, finding an instrument that could truly voice my thoughts and emotions, moved away from Tagore. It wasn’t until much later that I began to appreciate the original Bengali text and discover why Yeats and Pound became such ardent admirers of this man. I knew in my heart that I had to come back and do a piece on Tagore, addressing a buried
side of me. In 2010 I began this at the National Theatre, but now thanks to SALF I can complete the journey. What will this piece incorporate? Layering Indian classical and Tagore’s original songs with blues, soul, electronica and performance poetry are a team of some of the UK’s finest crossover musicians on guitar, vocals and percussion. The piece will also see the world premiere of my custom-built electric sarod, Edorsa. Is invigorating traditional music and taking it to a younger audience your passion? Indian classical music is varied, colourful, dynamic and capable of taking a listener on breathtaking, soul-enriching journeys. However, a listener needs to be at the right point in life to appreciate this; most young people are not. They are angry, impatient and anti-establishment. I am definitely interested in taking Indian music to younger audiences and showing them that this – albeit ancient – art form does have something to offer: peace.
Indian classical music is varied, colourful, dynamic and capable of taking a listener on breathtaking, soul-enriching journeys
EVENT INFO Borderland (London) 8 October, 4pm See p23 for more info Borderland (Portsmouth) 7PM | New Theatre Royal, portsmouth | £8 See p34 for more info Borderland (Leicester) 7:30Pm | £10 | Embrace Arts See p35 for more info
By Radha Spratt 15
Q&A with HM Naqvi
Winner of the 2010 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature What have you been up to since you won the DSC Prize? I have been working diligently since that heady night in Jaipur, working till six every morning, producing about 300 words a day. I have been working like this for the last seven years and will continue to do so until I die. How do you think other fiction has dealt with 9/11 and its aftermath? Any historic event generates a body of work: World War I, World War II, 1947. Home Boy is not the first nor the last work to address what transpired on 9/11. As writers, as human beings, we will continue to make sense of ourselves and the world around us. It’s natural.
the Midwest, Derbyshire or rural Baluchistan. Megalopolises provide an ecosystem that allows somebody of my peculiar temperament to flourish: noise, traffic, disparate communities coexisting side by side, a meal or drink at two in the morning. What can you tell us about your next project? I am working on a big, bad comic epic set in Karachi that contends with the universe and its vastness.
What advice can you give to aspiring writers? Real writers write because they have to, because they have an itch. There’s nothing I could tell them that could inform this imperative, nothing that they don’t know Your novel Home Boy constructs already: read at least a book a week vivid cityscapes. What is it and write every day, come hell, about big cities like Karachi high water or a death in the family. and New York that fascinate you as a writer? By Iman Qureshi I am an urban animal. Consequently, I feel most comfortable in cities, big cities; in megalopolises: Mexico City, Mumbai, Cape Town, Karachi. I would be out of sorts in places that might include Brussels or 16
Megalopolises provide an ecosystem that allows somebody of my peculiar temperament to flourish.
EVENT INFO The Worlds I Inhabit The City, Story and Storyteller
23 October, 4pm Chelsea Theatre See p37 for more info
anoushka shankar TraVELLEr
7–9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
OPENING NIGHT
opening weekend offer Turn your tickets into books!* 20 events over 2 days for 20 pounds Purchase an all-weekend ticket (£20) or all-day ticket (£12 each day) by 30 September and get up to £20 back in book vouchers. Children under 8 go free with an adult. *Terms and conditions apply, see p4 for more details
Exhibition
Sonia Gandhi In A New Light
Malik Sajad’s ‘Endangered Species’
In association with Palgrave Macmillan
Kashmiris have suffered under a violent conflict for the past two decades. For most, war is now a normal part of life in the valley. Destroyed historic architecture, burned wooden bridges and the decline of folk art and language show the abrupt transformation of their cultural identity. Military bunkers, barricades, concertina wire, and watchtowers now dominate the Valley’s landscape and have profoundly changed the Kashmiri psyche. Malik Sajad’s artwork gives a voice and texture to the desolation left behind by the war.
Rani Singh, Sihel Seth, Virendra Sharma MP
Sonia Gandhi’s story represents one of the great transformational journeys made by a world leader in the last four decades Circumstance and tragedy, rather than ambition, paved her path to power. Born into a traditional, middle-class Italian family, Sonia Gandhi met and fell in love with Rajiv Gandhi – son of future Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru – while studying English at Cambridge. Cruelly tested by the assassinations of her mother-in-law and of her husband, Sonia grew into a strong, authoritative but always private figure, now president of a Coalition ruling over a billion people in the world’s largest democracy. Through exclusive interviews with members of Sonia’s party, political opponents and family friends, Rani Singh casts new light on Sonia. In the first mainstream biography of this inspirational figure, her narrative retraces the path of Sonia Gandhi, examining what her life and legacy mean for India. Join us for the festival’s opening night, with Rani Singh and special guests. 7 October, 6:30pm | £5/£7 door | Rich Mix 20
7–9 October, All weekend | Rich Mix £ WEEKEND OFFER
24-hour Book Project In collaboration with The Society of Young Publishers, if:book, The Literacy Consultancy, Authonomy, German Book Office New Delhi and Young Indian Publishers, a group of experienced writers will be challenged to work together to write a new South Asian story from scratch – in just 12 hours. The next day, a group of editors and publishers will move in to make the story ready for publication in the same amount of time. The final book will be published under a Creative Commons license and will be available to buy by the end of the Festival. 8–9 October, 10am–10pm | Rich Mix £ WEEKEND OFFER
8 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
A Way With Words In association with Vayu Naidu Company Vay u Naidu, Ruby Sahota
Have you ever experienced a story becoming far more enchanting and memorable because of the person who told it? Vayu Naidu and Ruby Sahota will share the secrets of storytelling and performance techniques through two intensive workshops – tailored into separate sessions for teachers, educators and parents. This 3-hour workshop is open for up to 25 people who will learn how to: • Know a story in order to tell it well • Enable their skills as soloists and in ensembles • Search out projects and performance oportunities as Apprentice Storytellers. 8 October | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer Morning session (10am–1pm) for teachers and educators Afternoon session (2pm–5pm) for parents
Kashmir Heritage Poetry A Tribute to Agha Shahid Ali K amila Shamsie , M irza Waheed
Kashmiri American poet, translator, scholar, and teacher, Agha Shahid Ali wrote five books of poetry and edited an important collection of contemporary ghazals before his untimely death in 2001. His collections include A Walk Through the Yellow Pages, The Half-Inch Himalayas, A Nostalgist’s Map of America, The Country Without a Post Office and Rooms Are Never Finished (finalist for the National Book Award, 2001). His last book was Call Me Ishmael Tonight, a collection of English ghazals. Ali was also a translator of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (The Rebel’s Silhouette: Selected Poems) and became widely credited for popularising the ghazal form in America. In this event, drawing on images and selected passages, Kamila Shamsie pays tribute to his work, with readings from Mirza Waheed. 8 October, 12pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
A New Story for Afghanistan In Poems, Books and Song In association with Afghanaid David Loy d, Shabibi Shah , Veronica Doubleday
Despite a large proportion of Afghan adults being unable to read or write, contemporary Afghan literature rests upon a rich heritage of both oral and written traditions. The two major languages of Afghanistan, Pashto and Dari, with approximately 60 million speakers altogether (including those outside Afghanistan), possess a wealth of literature, unfortunately mostly unstudied, marginalised, and known to few. Yet the quiet story behind the familiar cycle of gloomy headlines is how, on the anniversary of nearly a decade of war, the importance of literature is improving despite the mounting insecurity and threats. Organisations like Afghan PEN are strengthening in members, and a remarkable growth of literary salons – in the capital Kabul but also other parts of the country – offer some hope for the future of books and reading. This event is a rare chance to gain first hand insight into the remarkable traditions of Afghan storytelling, with readings, songs and photography. Our speakers will reflect on the continued struggle for that literature – and its country of origin – to be celebrated, not condemned, and ask what this emerging narrative can offer towards the West’s own understanding and appreciation of Afghan heritage. 8 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer 21
8 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Children’s Storytelling Afindica – The Story of the Ethical Elephants Hogarth Brown
The Noozoo are a herd of elephants from the land of Afindica and they need YOUR help! Will you travel to meet them, listen to their stories and help to save their species?
Narratives of the Faraway Creative Writing in Bhutan Nitasha K aul
Bhutan is a small Himalayan country with a rich cultural tradition. Yet there is a noticeable shortage of literary voices when tracing English language creative writers in Bhutan. While there are a few contemporary Bhutanese novelists, historically, most writing has been associated with religious scriptures and books were traditionally objects of reverence requiring a distance and an interpretation. The intergenerational process of transmitting literary creativity has often taken the form of communally authored folk-tales which are a rich and fabulous storehouse of anecdotes and customs from different parts of the country. The idea of individual authors penning their own understanding – and opinions – of the world was not a part of Bhutanese literature. Today, much is changing with the new wave of young Bhutanese writing and there is reason for optimism and the chance of discovery. In this event, Nitasha Kaul illustrates literary Bhutan through her images and readings. An expert on Bhutan’s history, society and culture, Nitasha has witnessed historic changes in Bhutan, and her publications, interactions and work had an extensive effect on the global perception of transition to democracy in Bhutan in 2008, as well as on the literary world of young Bhutanese adults when she taught the first ever university level creative writing course in Bhutan. This resulted in the publication of November Light: An Anthology of Creative Writing from Bhutan. 8 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ Weekend offer 22
8 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ Weekend Offer
Mr Jeejeebhoy and The Birds Bhavisha Mor jaria
When two sisters, Diya and Tara, arrive at their Aunt Ninamasi’s strange, dark house in a suburb of Bombay, they realise pretty soon that things are not always what they seem.
8 October, 3pm | Rich Mix | £ Weekend Offer
The Glum Peacock Bhavisha Mor jaria
Have you ever seen a peacock? Aren’t their colours just the most magnificent? Have you ever seen blues more bright or purples more rich? But one peacock didn’t like the way he was and all he wanted was to be grey. 8 October, 4:30pm | Rich Mix | £ Weekend Offer All children’s events are suitable for 4–8 year olds. Children under 8 go free accompanied by an adult.
In association with Baithak Records Soumik Datta and group
Rabindranath Tagore is an Indian superhero. Raised in suburban London, a disoriented Bengali teenager struggles with his own notion of India’s national poet. Soumik Datta, now a ‘British sarod maestro’ (Time Out), returns us to a journey he made as a boy to the far corners of his cultural identity to face his troubled relationship with the Father of Bengal. Four musicians, led by Soumik, play and narrate this story of discovery. The score comes to life with Indian classical, soul, blues and electronica. Culminating in a breathtaking finale, the piece connects present day London, war-time India, comic book superheroes and Tagore’s global influence.
Inner Birds; Modern Flight E isha K arol , Row y da A min , Sandeep Parmar , Saradha Soobray en , Sascha A Akhtar
Five female poets perform a range of multi-media poetic works Rich in variation, welcome to an event which promises texture, nuance and patterns. These are the moods of a new paradigm in poetic literature of South Asia. Bringing together some of the most exciting talent in women’s poetry and performance today, each of the poets have distilled their communal heritage, restless histories and origins to create original pieces that are all at once evocative, mystical, hypnotic and lyrical.
Stylish and laced with electric and acoustic sarod, vocals, guitar and multilingual translations, Baithak Records is proud to present a tribute to the legendary Rabindranath Tagore. Sarod and Electric Sarod: Soumik Datta Voice: Rahel Guitar: Guiliano Modarelli Tabla: Souvid Datta Appearing at: Rich Mix, London, 8 Oct, 8:00PM New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, 17 Oct, 7PM Embrace Arts, Leicester, 20 Oct, 7:30PM
Includes Eisha Karol’s SeaSuite: Reincarnation, a collaboration with choreographer Anusha Subramanyam and the Beeja Dance company, especially adapted for this event to explore a postmodern perspective in South Asian dance. 8 October, 4:30pmRich Mix | £ weekend offer
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8 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Borderland
9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Bangladeshi Literature Rich Traditions, New Stories Ansuman Biswas, Shama R ahman , the R ainbow Collective
In the year of the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence from West Pakistan, many treasures are continually being unearthed in celebration of the country’s long literary heritage. Even as Indian and Pakistani writers continue to be received with plaudits and awards in the West, Bangladesh is - in its own way - gaining ground on the world’s literary stage. So what are the hallmarks of great Bengali writing, and what is defining the country’s influence on the literary and storytelling landscape?
Indian Mythology A Graphic Look Sponsored by Jamnabai Nagrecha Foundation Bhavit M ehta , Paul Gravett, Sarnath Baner j ee
Gods with extraordinary forms, demons with horrible traits, heroic princes fighting epic battles, nature taking on human forms, and holy sages using their magical powers to wipe the universe clean of all evil... Nobody can deny that Indian mythology is filled with all the ingredients of a captivating tale for everyone. This event looks at how the stories – described passionately as both fiction and historical fact, depending on who is asked – have influenced legendary comic book publishers, such as Amar Chitra Katha, and have inspired a new wave of trade publishing houses like Virgin Books, Fluid Friction, Vimanika Comics and Campfire. But is there a tendency for Indian comics and graphic novels often to adopt a Western form to tell Indian stories? And does the strong influence of mythology depicted in film and TV skew how these traditional tales are retold? With an illustrated talk by publisher Bhavit Mehta followed by a panel discussion with graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee and comic guru Paul Gravett, this event promises to be a visual treat! It will also see the official launch of Vimanika Comics in the UK. 9 October, 12pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer 24
In an event complete with readings, imagery, song and performance, Shama Rahman, Ansuman Biswas and members from documentary team The Rainbow Collective will offer a rich sample of the stories, themes and languages on offer for readers in the UK, and for the country’s neighbours. 9 October, 12pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Strong Women in Fiction Dipika R ai, Kishwar Desai, Padmini R ay Murray
A force to be reckoned with in the literary canon Female characters have arguably undergone a large transformation in literature over the last century; shifting away from archetypal roles of the virtuous, pious and often suffering figure within a patriarchal world, women in modern literature have finally championed the right to gender equality. The portrayal of women as complex characters has changed the landscape of the ‘canon’ and forged a new wave of feminist writers, characters and readers. But to what extent are women respected as protagonists? This event brings together two powerful novels. Dipika Rai’s Someone Else’s Garden is the story of Mamta, born low-caste in rural India, fleeing her violent husband in search of a new life in the city, while in Kishwar Desai’s Witness the Night, social worker Simra is an independent, single woman assigned to the case of 14-year-old Durga, the only suspect in the brutal murder of her 13 family members.
Grand Trunk Road South Asia’s Famous Highway Irna Qureshi
The Grand Trunk Road is the oldest, longest and most famous highway in southern Asia. For millennia it was used by invaders to conquer the subcontinent. After the British arrived in the 17th century they used it as the main artery of their conquest and rule over Join Dipika Rai and Kishwar Desai as they discuss the northern areas of British India. Known locally as the ‘GT road’, it was also used by its residents to begin impact of the real world in today’s women in fiction. journeys that would lead them all across the world, and from the days of the British Raj onwards large 9 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer numbers of them have settled in Britain. Between Delhi and the Khyber Pass the GT road travels through the homelands of over 90% of British Pakistanis, as well as the vast majority of British Sikhs and Hindus from the Indian Punjab. Personal stories gathered by Irna Qureshi, together with photographs by Tim Smith, explore its extraordinary history and tell the story of why it was so crucial to the process of migration to Britain and how the close links between Britain and places along it continue to this day. In this illustrated talk, Irna will also explore its history and links to her own family history. 9 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
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9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Kashmir Black & White Stories from a Troubled Land Justine Hardy, M alik Sa jad
Kashmiris have suffered under a violent conflict for the past two decades. For most, war is now a normal part of life in the Valley. Destroyed historic architecture, burned wooden bridges, the decline of folk art and language show the abrupt transformation of their cultural identity. Military bunkers, barricades, concertina wire, and watchtowers now dominate the Valley’s landscape and have profoundly changed the Kashmiri psyche. Malik Sajad’s artwork gives a voice and texture to the desolation left behind by the war. Journalist and writer Justine Hardy talks to Malik about his work, the importance of art for telling the story of Kashmir and his hopes for what it will achieve. 9 October, 3pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
Land of Enchantment of the Senses Seema Anand
Storyteller Seema Anand brings to life tales of the Hamzanama Tilism-e-Hoshruba (Land of Enchantment of the Senses) is part of the larger 17th century text Hamzanama, written and illustrated for Emperor Akbar. The Tilism is an enchanted land created by magic and inhabited by sorcerers who are in constant competition for the throne. There are no rules and no boundaries; wizardry, sorcery, seduction, deceit and avarice are all commonplace. Beautifully descriptive, hilariously funny and unashamedly seductive, storyteller Seema Anand brings to life these enchanting tales in a unique masterpiece of literary traditions. This event is not suitable for people under 15 years old. 9 October, 3pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
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Farahad Z ama , Moni Mohsin moderated by Homa K haleeli
Barry M iles, M ichael Horovitz , Roger E lsgood
How important is comedy when weaving the big issues of the day into a novel? Two authors use the device to great effect; Moni Mohsin’s Tender Hooks is laced with the persistent threat of ‘bomb-shombs, fundos and fatwas’, while Zama exposes the glaring gaps in material wealth, and the plight of widows and divorcees in his popular ‘marriage bureau’ series.
Readings and recollections from the journals of Beat poet and political activist Allen Ginsberg
The entertaining commentary of their writing almost veils their criticisms of Pakistan and Indian society. Join them as they discuss their books and the art of writing about life, seriously. 9 October, 4:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
During 1962 and 1963, the American poet Allen Ginsberg worked, lived and traveled in India, inadvertently blazing a trail for many other like-minded spirits who would make similar journeys throughout the sixties in search of alternative enlightenment. Ginsberg kept a journal, an often chaotic, haphazard document which after five years of transcription was published as his ‘Indian Journals’ and revealed, amongst drug-fuelled, stream-of-consciousness ramblings and random moments seized in words as if with a contemporary phone camera, a collection of daily writings of rare beauty and insight. This event will take the form of a conversation between British poet Michael Horovitz, who knew Ginsberg well, following his epic appearance at the International Poetry Congress at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, and Barry Miles of the legendary Miles of Indica Bookshop, Ginsberg’s official biographer and close friend. Michael Horovitz will read extracts from the journals. The event will be chaired by producer Roger Elsgood who is currently developing a stage production based on Ginsberg’s Indian Journals for their 50th anniversary next year.
Islamic Punk From Fiction to Reality
An Art and Adventure production. 9 October, 6pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
Originally a fictional idea conceived by author and Muslim-convert Michael Muhammed Knight, Islamic Punk has inspired a film (set in New York City) and a slew of bands across America. The Taqwacores premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and is sure to make you sit up and take notice. What do a conservative engineering student from Pakistan, an Indonesian skater-punk stoner, a burqa-clad riot-grrl feminist, a hardcore straight-edged Sunni and a drunk-punk Sufi hero have in common? Prepare to have all your preconceptions challenged. 9 October, 4:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer 27
9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Not Just for Laughs Allen Ginsberg’s A Light Take on the Serious Stuff ‘Indian Journals’
9 OCTOBER // OPENING WEEKEND OFFER
Children’s Storytelling School for Princes – Stories from the Panchatantra Jamila Gavin
How can a King knock some sense into his silly sons so that they grow up to be sensible young men? A wise man tells the king that he can do the job in six weeks.
10 OCTOBER
9 October, 1:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
Little Yash Has Lost His Smile K anchan Wadhwani
Little Yash lost his smile after he woke up in the morning. He looked through his pockets, inside the closet, under his bed, in the garden, under the sea. His friends helped him look for it, but it was nowhere to be found! 9 October, 3pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer
Tales from India Jamila Gavin
Come on a journey with Jamila as she narrates selected tales from the book. Also see Amanda Hall’s delicate, colourful artwork from the book, which reflects influences of both classical and contemporary Indian art styles. 9 October, 4:30pm | Rich Mix | £ weekend offer All children’s events are suitable for 4–8 year olds. Children under 8 go free accompanied by an adult.
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti In association with the Royal Commonwealth Society Mohammed Hanif, Sarfraz M anzoor
Alice Bhatti, fresh from a borstal youth detention centre, takes up the position of Junior Nurse at a hospital. She is soon bringing succour to the thousands of patients littering the hospital’s corridors and concrete courtyard. While there, she attracts the attention of a lovesick patient, Teddy Bunt, apprentice to the nefarious ‘Gentleman Squad’ of the Karachi police. They fall in love: Teddy with sudden violence, Alice with cautious optimism. She soon finds that her new life is built on foundations as unstable as those of her former home. A Catholic snubbed by other Catholics – who, in turn, are hated by everyone around them – she is also put at risk by her husband, a man who does two things that no member of the Gentlemen Squad has ever done – falls in love with a working girl, and allows a potentially dangerous suspect to get away. Join Mohammed Hanif as he discusses the themes and reads stories from his acclaimed new work, in conversation with journalist, author and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor. 10 October, 6:30pm free | The Commonwealth Club
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Robert Bly th , Seema Anand
In association with UK Punjab Heritage Association
From Tipu Sultan’s tiger toy-machine, to the impact of the East India Company on the world today, this event will follow the maritime expeditions of the company right through to the fate of the Europeans of Lahore after they returned home, and offer a first-time look at the fascinating untold aspects of this once-dominant organisation. This event is part of the launch of the permanent new gallery at the National Maritime Museum: Traders: the East India Company and Asia.
Bhai Ghulam M uhammad Chand, Nidar Singh Nihang , Sathnam Sanghera
12 October, 6:30pm £6 | National Maritime Museum
Five hundred of the finest and rarest images from collections in Europe, India and North America have been brought together in a stunning book celebrating the history and exquisite artistry of the Golden Temple, as seen through the eyes of artists and photographers captivated by its impressive stature over the years. Enjoy a panel discussion with the team behind the book, chaired by Sathnam Sanghera, award-winning author of The Boy With The Topknot, columnist for The Times, and previously The Financial Times.
Visited by millions of pilgrims and tourists every year, the Golden Temple of Amritsar is one of the most recognisable buildings in the world. From its origins in the 16th century until now, it has come to symbolise the epitome of Sikh architecture as well as the undying love of its devotees.
During the event you can also rediscover the forgotten tradition of the Muslim bards of the Golden Temple, with Bhai Ghulam Muhammad Chand performing kirtan live, and be dazzled with a live In association with the Bhopal Medical Appeal demonstration by the last Sikh Master Swordsman Meaghan Delahunt, Mick Brown, who will reveal the weaponry, techniques and rosie thomas, tim edwards psychology behind the most significant battles fought A stirring documentary about the survivors of the world’s at the Golden Temple. worst industrial disaster, the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India 14 October, 6pm
Bhopali
Van Maximilian Carlson’s Bhopali brings to life the ongoing suffering and fight for legal justice faced by victims of Union Carbide. The documentary weaves together historic accounts, official statements and records, along with heartbreaking human stories. After this first public screening of the film in the UK, Meaghan Delahunt and Mick Brown will examine the ongoing efforts by campaigners – including moving portrayals in both fiction and journalism – to bring those responsible to justice.
free | the nehru centre
Ticket includes a drinks reception with all proceeds going to the Bhopal Medical Appeal. 13 October, 6:30pm £5, students go free India Media Centre, University of Westminster 29
12/13/14 OCTOBER
Tall Tales of the Monsoon Trade The Golden Temple of Amritsar Dal j it Nagra , R azia Iqbal , Reflections of the Past
14/15 OCTOBER
Translating from Indian Languages In association with the British Centre for Literary Translation Arunava Sinha
Forgotten Era Parsi Theatre and Early Indian Cinema In association with the India Media Centre Francesca Orsini , K athry n Hansen , R avi Vasudevan , Rosie Thomas
Was there life before Bollywood? Kathryn Hansen will speak about the magical world of popular entertainment that prevailed throughout South Asia in the early 20th century when Western-style playhouses were found in every Indian city. Drama troupes run by Parsi entrepreneurs held crowds spellbound with their productions. From this vanished period of India’s urban culture, Hansen shares the life stories of early Indian actors and playwrights, which offer an unparalleled window into the colourful and lively history of the Parsi theatre. 14 October, 6:30pm | FREE India Media Centre, University of Westminster
Accessing Indian Literature The Vital Art of Translation In association with the British Centre for Literary Translation Arunava Sinha , Boy d Tonkin , Rohini Chowdhury
UK readers are treated to Indian literature originally written in English. But there’s a larger world of writing in other Indian languages, and despite the interest of publishers, there’s a lack of books translated into English. Translators can bridge this gap as they are the gatekeepers to the wealth of literature that should be available in translation. This event looks at the processes and challenges involved in the work of such translators. 15 October, 12pm £5/£12 all day ticket | free word centre 30
Leading a half-day workshop, Arunava Sinha will discuss his career as an acclaimed translator of Bengali literature; from his latest published translations of The Chieftain’s Daughter by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and Three Women by Rabindranath Tagore – both part of the Random House Bengali Classics Series – to his earlier translations, including Sankar’s Chowringhee, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Fiction prize in the UK for 2009. He will share with us the processes and challenges involved in translating from Indian languages, and offer an insight into how translators can help the wider translation of Indian literature into the English language. Knowledge of any Indian languages is not necessary. Limited places available. Registering for the workshop also includes a ticket for the ‘Accessing Indian Literature: the Vital Art of Translation’ event at 12pm. 15 October, 2–6pm £35/£20 conc. | free word centre
How to Get Published Aisha R ahman , K avita Bhanot, Isabel Losada , Rebecca S wift
Director of The Literary Consultancy, Rebecca Swift is joined by TLC Manuscript Assessors Kavita Bhanot and Aisha Rahman, along with broadcaster and author Isabel Losada. Together they will discuss the ways in which new writers can begin to think about what it will take to get their work published, and how your own projects might fit into a rapidly changing literary landscape. This is a great chance to put your questions to these first-class editors and writers, who have years of experience and cover most literary genres. This event is supported by The Literary Consultancy and Diversity in Publishing Network (DIPNET). Founded in 1996, the Literary Consultancy offers objective editorial advice to writers and holds a strong track record of helping writers get into print.
15 October, 2pm £5/£12 all day ticket | free word centre
Too Asian, Not Asian Enough 15 OCTOBER
In association with Tindal Street Press Bidisha , Gautam M alkani , K avita Bhanot, Nikesh Shukla , Niven Govinden
Looking for exotic tales heaped in spice and frangipani? Desperate for the comfort of villainous, devoutly oppressive parents in your next read? Or maybe it’s sultry, sari-clad damsels you’re pining after? Well, you’ll have to look elsewhere. In Too Asian, Not Asian Enough, what you’ll find instead is a startlingly diverse and original collection Anita Sethi , R ana Dasgupta of new stories from some of the brightest new talent among British-Asian writers. This event sees the This event brings together two writers: Rana Dasgupta, launch of this cliché-demolishing anthology, and living in India but born in the UK, has travelled to the chance to engage with the authors and hear a many countries that have inspired his acclaimed novels selection of their stories – funny, shocking, moving Tokyo Cancelled and Solo, and the current portrait of his and thought-provoking. adopted city, Delhi; the other author, award-winning journalist, writer and globe-trotter Anita Sethi, has 15 October, 6–7:30pm travelled widely and written dispatches from around £5/£12 all day ticket | free word centre the world, spending many months exploring South Asia and recording her travels through writing and photography. With photography and music throughout, join Rana Dasgupta and Anita Sethi for a fascinating journey using words and images through vast and varied South Asia — a place teeming with travelling tales.
Travelling Tales Looking Out, Looking In
15 October, 4pm £5/£12 all day ticket | free word centre
Exploring Relationships A Literary Adventure In association with VAANI Julie O’ Yang , Smita Singh , Sunita Pattani
Afindica Discover a New Land
What are the tools that allow you to make peace with your food and establish your ideal weight? How do we overcome the challenges that life puts forward? Sunita Pattani reads from her new book My Secret Affair with a Chocolate Cake, a guide to overcoming emotional eating and creating a sense of wellbeing. And Smita Singh brings us The Pariah Goddess, a novel that explores an interesting and heartwarming friendship between two characters, Amira and K, and the human capacity to overcome all obstacles and achieve spiritual growth. The readings and discussion will be followed by book signings.
HOGARTH BROWN
15 October, 6pm FREE | the Nehru Centre
16 OCTOBER, 2:30PM £4.50 | DISCOVER CHILDREN’S STORY CENTRE
The Noozoo are a herd of elephants from the land of Afindica and they need YOUR help! Will you travel to meet them, listen to their stories and help to save their species? In this enchanting storybook, the Noozoo will lead you on a journey where you’ll learn secrets about the planet and the animal kingdom... but most of all you will discover more about yourself! Join illustrator Hogarth Brown as he reads from the book and takes you on an exciting adventure in a new land. Suitable for children 7-11 years old.
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17/18 OCTOBER
Borderland (Portsmouth) In association with Baithak Records, Portsmouth Bookfest & Portsmouth City Council
Literature in Translation Indian Languages (Norwich)
See p23 for an event description
In association with the British Centre for Literary Translation & Writers’ Centre Norwich
17 october, 7PM £8 | New Theatre Royal, portsmouth
Arunava Sinha , L akshmi Holmström , Valerie H enitiuk
For many years, UK readers have been treated to reams of fine Indian literature. Typically, though, this has all been work originally written in English. Think of Salman Rushdie, Amit Chaudhuri, Arundhati Roy and Anita Desai, to name a few. But there’s also a large and growing world of writing in other Indian languages – so why don’t UK readers have access to it? In spite of publishers’ interest in Indian writing, there is a lack of books translated into English.
The Making of a Modern Indian Artist-Craftsman Devi Prasad In association with India Media Centre
The role of translators in bridging this gap is vital; not only are they fundamental in producing the English texts, but they can also act as gatekeepers to the wealth of literature that should be available in translation. Acclaimed translator Arunava Sinha – who joins us – especially from India – will be in conversation with writer and translator Lakshmi Holmström and Director of the BCLT, Valerie Henitiuk. 17 october, 7PM FREE | university of east anglia, norwich
Julian S tair , Naman P. Ahuja , Sunand Prasad
Same-same Sex, Love and Other Queer-ies
Devi Prasad was India’s pioneering artist-potter, visionary educationist and pacifist. He joined Santiniketan, India’s premier art school in 1938, and In association with Stonewall and Wotever World then Sevagram, Gandhi’s ashram, in 1944 as an art teacher, where he taught for nearly twenty years. His Anjali Joseph , Bidisha , Paul Burston political consciousness saw him participate actively in the Quit India Movement in 1942. What are the perfect ingredients for the modern South Asian novel? Spices, saris, marriages, mangoes... sex? Apart from the making of his personal history and What about people of the same sex, having sex? Gay his times, this event looks at why the creative act characters — or to be more precise, representations of making art itself takes on such a fundamental of homosexuality — are still something of a taboo in philosophical significance in his life, and looks at Devi South Asian literature. Despite homosexual themes Prasad’s story which exemplifies the importance of and scenes permeating the great scriptures, tales and the Arts and Crafts Movement in shaping the nature novels over centuries, are they are a niche too far for of Modernism in India. today’s publishing industry? Where does the vitriol for this ‘controversial’ subject matter come from, and This event sees the launch of The Making of a Modern how do intersecting identities of race, religion, culture, Indian Artist-Craftsman: Devi Prasad by Naman P gender and sexuality play out in UK literature today? Ahuja. The author will be in conversation with potter Hear our literary panel wax lyrical, followed by an and writer Julian Stair and architect Sunand Prasad. evening of spoken word, music and performance. 17 october, 6:30PM | FREE India Media Centre, University of Westminster 34
18 October, 6:30pm FREE | Royal Vauxhall Tavern
19/20/21 OCTOBER
Tagore Lost (and found) in Translation A mit Chaudhuri, Anita Sethi , Ian Jack , K etaki K ushari Dyson
2011 has marked a huge range of events around the world celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of revered Indian writer and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. A renowned polymath, his plays, novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, artwork and essays spoke about political and personal topics, and dramatically reshaped Bengali literature and music. He was a champion of East-and-West fusion and promoted a positive relationship between India and Britain; becoming the first non-Westerner to In association with the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective win the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. Over (SAWCC) the course of 80 years, his prolific body of work Anita Sethi, Sonia Faleiro, Surina Narula amounted to 13 novels, an estimated 3,000 poems and over 2,000 songs. What is life like for a bar dancer in Bombay? Many are uneducated, sold by their families and sexually abused Yet for non-Bengali readers, is it possible to ever once they become ‘of age’. Dancers operate at the top know the full measure of Tagore as a poet? How does of a skewed moral hierarchy in the sex trade: they don’t this speak to a larger question about how poetry can strip or lap-dance, and sex with ‘kustomers’ is frowned still be appreciated, even when written in a language upon, undertaken in secret at the dancer’s discretion. It not understood by the reader or listener? Join writer was in this world, in 2005, that journalist Sonia Faleiro and academic Amit Chaudhuri, Guardian critic Ian began her five-year journey which led to Beautiful Jack and bilingual writer, scholar and translator Thing, an absorbing book with dancer Leela at its heart: Ketaki Kushari Dyson, in conversation with journalist beautiful, sharp, and completely devoid of self-pity. and writer Anita Sethi, as they ask what has been lost – and gained – by Tagore in translation. As Leela led her further into the damaged soul of 20 october, 7pm Bombay, Sonia discovered first hand how money truly reigned supreme, in an industry where women £7 (INC. WINE) | London Review Bookshop have become the main currency. As a commodity that can at once rule the hearts of men, and extract their untold riches, they in turn feed the desires of the men who will always rule their lives.
The Dancing Girls of Bombay What Price for Women’s Rights?
But is this only Bombay’s dark secret to hide? Is it even just India’s? Are there parallels and lessons that can be learnt from the centuries of struggle for women’s rights in Britain? Sonia will be reading from Beautiful Thing and will be in conversation with journalist, writer and broadcaster Anita Sethi, with an introduction by Surina Narula, President for the Consortium of Street Children. All proceeds go to the Consortium of Street Children 19 October, 6:30pm £5 | The Women’s Library
Borderland (Leicester) In association with Baithak Records, Charnwood Arts & Kala Kahani See p23 for an event description 20 october, 7:30PM £10 | Embrace Arts 35
21/23 OCTOBER
The Last Colonial Curious Stories and Adventures from a Vanishing World Sir Christopher Ondaatj e , Romesh Gunesekera
Born in 1933, Sir Christopher Ondaatje is a true child of the British Empire. Brought up on a tea plantation in Ceylon, he was sent to boarding school in England. But soon after Ceylon was granted its independence in 1948, his family found itself destitute, and the young Ondaatje had to leave school and get a job. In 1956 he made his way to Toronto, Canada with just thirteen dollars in his pocket. From this improbable beginning there followed a series of commercial triumphs until 1988, when he abruptly abandoned high finance at the peak of his career and reinvented himself as an explorer and author, focusing mainly on the colonial period. The curious encounters behind these often precarious adventures make up his new autobiographical collection, entitled The Last Colonial. The stories tell of Ondaatje’s childhood days in Ceylon, his early life in Canada, his fascination with inexplicable events and local superstitions, and his sometimes hazardous adventures researching biographies of Ernest Hemingway in Africa, Leonard Woolf in Ceylon, and Sir Richard Burton in India and Africa. At this event, chaired by writer Romesh Gunesekera, he offers his own view on a world much travelled. 21 October, 6:30–8pm £7.50/ £5 conc. | British Library
From Citizen to Refugee The Indians of Uganda In association with Pambazuka Press and supported by Eleph Design & Construct Barbara Harrell- Bond, Firoze M an ji,
On 4 August 1972, President Idi Amin of Uganda ordered the expulsion of his country’s Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave Uganda. Amin said that he had had a dream in which God told him to order the expulsion. Asians had been living in the country for more than a century and were considered the backbone of the Ugandan economy. Over 80,000 people left for the UK, USA, Cananda, India and neighbouring African countries. What was it like to be an Asian in Uganda when Amin announced the expulsion? What were the stories of people who left their homes to explore new lands? This event, marking the launch of From Citizen to Refugee: Uganda Asians come to Britain explores the feelings experienced by Uganda’s Asians and tells of their camps’ political culture.
© Ana Maria Pacheco
23 October, 12pm £5/£12 ALL DAY TICKET | chelsea theatre
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© Greg Bal
PAU L GR AVE T T, SARNATH BAN E R J E E
The Worlds I Inhabit The City, Story and Storyteller h . m . naqvi
Sarnath Banerjee’s The Harappa Files form a report by the fictional “Greater Harappa Rehabilitation, Reclamation and Redevelopment Commission”, a secret think-tank of elite bureaucrats, historians, social scientists, law enforcers, diplomats and policy makers. The graphic novel illustrates everything from products of the past and futuristic cars to inquisitive landladies and modern buildings with no plumbing blueprints, and is an exercise in depicting India exactly as it is. Come and hear Sarnath in conversation with comic guru Paul Gravett as he shares with us truths about Indian society, acutely observed and skewered with delicious wit. 23 October, 4pm £5/£12 ALL DAY PASS | CHELSEA THEATRE
H. M. Naqvi – whose debut novel Home Boy won the 2011 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature – is a selfproclaimed urban animal: ‘Megalopolises provide an ecosystem that allows somebody of my peculiar temperament to flourish: noise, traffic, disparate communities coexisting side by side, a meal or drink at two in the morning.’ Naqvi will discuss how urban environments inform his process as well as the texture of the reality of his novels. ‘As writers, as human beings, we will continue to make sense of ourselves and the world around us. It’s natural.’ Soon to be published by Hamish Hamilton in the UK, Home Boy follows the misadventures of three Metrostanis coming-of-age in turn-of-the-century New York. As well as will reading from his debut, Naqvi has promised to read a selection from his present project, a ‘big, bad, bawdy epic set in Karachi’. Join us on a tour of interconnected worlds with one of the freshest and most distinctive voices in South Asian literature today. 23 October, 2pm £5/£12 ALL DAY TICKET | Chelsea Theatre
Life, Happiness and the Road to Paradise ISABE L LOSADA
Broadcaster and best-selling author Isabel Losada offers an event of comedy, inspiration and – she promises – ‘5 minutes bliss.’ Drawing on the themes of all her books, the entertainment covers diverse approaches to happiness and living life to the full… tantric sex, meditation, feng shui, her travels to Himalayan lands and meeting the Dalai Lama, Neuro Linguistic Programming, ‘Goddess’ workshops, colonic irrigation, spiritual retreats and basically anything and everything that makes life work. Come prepared to be stirred and gently shaken. 23 OCTOBER, 6PM £5/£12 ALL DAY PASS | CHELSEA THEATRE 37
23/24 OCTOBER
The Harappa Files Slices of Indian Life
23/24 OCTOBER
Diwali at Dishoom In association with Dishoom Restaurant Vay u Naidu
Dishoom welcomes everyone to a day of celebration with Diwali feasts, colourful rangoli and magical storytelling How did Diwali come to be? Listen to a story of celebration and light — meet Rama and Sita, and hear how Hanuman the wise flying monkey brings peace and delight to the world. Come and create a rangoli pattern on the merry pavements of Covent Garden, and celebrate the Festival of Lights with friends and family. You can even have your face painted like one of the Diwali characters. 23 October, 11am–3pm free | Dishoom
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Shortlist Reception The Festival is proud to be associated with the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, now in its second year, worth $50,000. A longlist of 16 books was announced in September in New Delhi. At this gala reception, the jury panel will deliberate to announce five or six selected works as the shortlist. The winner of the prize will be declared at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2012. (See page 63 for details about the prize and the full list of 16 longlisted books). 24 October, 6:30pm invitation only | Shakespeare’s Globe
Afghanaid has been helping to rebuild Afghanistan for nearly 30 years. We believe it’s in everyone’s interest to have a peaceful, secure and developed Afghanistan. Help us continue our vital work by joining our mailing list and making a donation today. www.afghanaid.org.uk 020 7065 0825 info@afghanaid.org.uk
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Aisha R ahman Before moving to London, Aisha Rahman was a lecturer at a university in Pakistan, where she taught a range of multidisciplinary courses, including a course on Pakistani Literature. Rahman worked in the editorial department at HarperCollins for several years before taking up a position as an editor for The LIterary Consultancy. She particularly enjoys writing from the Indian subcontinent.
A mit Chaudhuri Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist but also an internationally acclaimed essayist and musician. He has won numerous prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and his fifth novel, The Immortals, was Critics Choice Best Books of 2009 for the New Yorker, the Boston Globe and the Irish Times, and was shortlisted for the first DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. He is currently professor of contemporary literature at the University of East Anglia and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Anita Sethi Anita Sethi is an award-winning journalist, writer and broadcaster who has written for many national and international newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, Observer, Telegraph, Independent, New Statesman and Times Literary Supplement. She has appeared as a guest critic and commentator on various radio shows and is a regular chair and presenter at literary festivals. Sethi is a recipient of a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship and Penguin/decibel prize.
Anjali Joseph Anjali Joseph was born in Bombay in 1978. She read English at Trinity College, Cambridge and has taught English at the Sorbonne. More recently she has written for The Times of India in Bombay and been a commissioning editor for ELLE (India). a(2010) is her first novel and won the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Vodafone Crossword Award for Fiction.
Ansuman Biswas Ansuman Biswas’s practice encompasses music, film, live art, installation, writing and theatre. He has shown visual and time-based art at such galleries as the Tate Modern and the Yerba Buena Centre in San Francisco. He has been a composer at the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House and London’s West End. He is a trustee of Arts Catalyst, and has been artist-in-residence at venues ranging from the Headlands Centre in San Francisco to the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in China.. Arunava Sinha Arunava Sinha is a translator of classic and contemporary Bengali fiction. His recent work includes When The Time Is Right (Buddhadeva Bose), Harbart (Nabarun Bhattacharya) and Three Women (Rabindranath Tagore), which is part of the Random House Bengali Classics Series. Sinha’s translation of Sankar’s Chowringhee won the Vodafone Crossword translation prize for 2007 and was shortlisted for the 2009 Independent Best Foreign Fiction prize. Sinha was born and educated in Kolkata, and lives in New Delhi with his wife and son. Barbara Harrell- Bond Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond OBE is a leading figure in the field of refugee studies. She founded the Refugee Studies Center at Oxford University, the world’s first institution for the study of refugees. On retirement, she conducted research on the extent to which refugees enjoy their rights in exile in Kenya and Uganda. Barbara was born and raised in South Dakota. She studied music at Asbury College in Kentucky followed by anthropology at the University of Oxford in 1965. 43
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Barry Miles Barry Miles is an author known for his participation in the 1960s Underground movement in London and subsequent writings about it, such as Hippie, a reminiscence of the Sixties and Seventies. He was co-owner of the famous Indica Gallery – a counter-culture art gallery supported by Paul McCartney, where Lennon and Yoko Ono first met. He has written biographies on McCartney, Frank Zappa, Lennon, William S. Burroughs, Kerouac, Bukowski and Ginsberg.
Bhavit Mehta Bhavit Mehta read Biological Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, and worked at UCL before moving into children’s books in 2007 when he founded the independent publisher Saadhak Books. Taking inspiration from tales by his grandparents, his first picture book, Laghu the Clever Crow, was published in 2009. Mehta also works with the Society of Young Publishers, a notfor-profit organisation for students and publishers in book publishing. He is a director of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival.
Bidisha Bidisha is a writer, critic and broadcaster who began her career at 14, as an arts journalist, and signed her first book deal when she was 16. She presents and contributes to arts shows and documentaries for the BBC, and writes for the New Statesman, the Financial Times, the Observer and the Guardian. Bidisha judged the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2009 and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2010. Her latest book is Venetian Masters.
Boyd Tonkin Boyd Tonkin is literary editor of The Independent. He previously wrote for the Observer, was literary editor of the New Statesman, features editor of Community Care and taught literature. He has judged the Booker Prize, the David Cohen Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and re-founded The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for literature in translation. Tonkin has contributed to a range of literary criticism and arts programmes, and has reported from countries around the world. 44
Sir Christopher Ondaatje Sir Christopher Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka and educated in England. Since 1995 he has devoted his time to travelling, writing and administering The Ondaatje Foundation. He is a life patron of the National Portrait Gallery where the Ondaatje Wing is named after him, while the Ondaatje Prize at both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters are other major benefactions. In 2003, Ondaatje was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s honours list.
Dal jit Nagra In 2003, Daljit Nagra won the Smith/ Doorstop pamphlet competition with Oh my Rub! (under the pseudonym Khan Singh Kumar), which became a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice and a Guardian poetry book of the year. His poem Look We Have Coming to Dover! became the title of his first collection. This won a 2007 Forward Poetry Prize and the 2008 Arts Council England Decibel Award. His second collection is Tipoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger ToyMachine!!! (2011). David Loy n David Loyn has been a foreign correspondent for more than 25 years. He has covered conflicts on three continents, and won major awards for both TV and radio reporting, including ‘Journalist of the Year’ in the Royal Television Society Awards in 1999. His first book, Frontline, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2006. His second book Butcher and Bolt: Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan was published in 2008.
Dipika R ai Dipika Rai was born and educated in India, throughout which she travelled with her family. After securing an MBA and doing time in the corporate world of banking, she returned to her subliminal love: writing. She moved to Bali, freelanced for 30 magazines around the globe and relished exploring new cultures. Once her children were born, she stayed home and wrote her her first novel, Someone Else’s Garden (2011).
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E isha K arol Eisha Karol is a songwriter, performer and a poet who writes for dancers. Her multimedia show, SeaSuite: Ultraviolet, featuring Indian dancers and vocalists, has played at venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, Indian Electronica Festival, Cargo and the London Mind Body Spirit Festival. Other works, including two collaborations with choreographer Everaldo Pereira (We Are the Blues and What Does the Flower Want?), have played at the Tabernacle theatre and Park Road Pilot. Karol has written a screenplay, Estoy en India. Firoze M anji Firoze Manji has more than thirty years of experience in international development, health, and human rights. He has worked as programme director for the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, CEO for Aga Khan Foundation UK, and regional representative for health at offices in Eastern and Southern Africa. He is currently tutor in International Human Rights at the University of Oxford and editor of Pambazuka News, as well as the founder and executive director of Fahamu.
Francesca Orsini Francesca Orsini is Reader in Literatures of North India at SOAS. She has published on Hindi literary life during the nationalist period, commercial genres such as detective fiction and ‘social romances’, women writers and women’s journals and 19th-century commercial publishing in Hindi and Urdu. Her recent books include Print and Pleasure: The Genres of Commercial Publishing in Nineteenth-century North India, and an edited collection, Hindi and Urdu before the Divide.
Farahad Z ama Farahad Zama grew up in Vizag on the east coast of India, where his novels are set. He was recruited at university by a banking firm and has worked in Mumbai, Zurich and New York. Farahad moved to London in 1990 and works in the City, writing on his commute and at weekends. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People is his first novel. Zama is currently working on a third book, Not All Marriages Are Made In Heaven.
Gautam M alkani Gautam Malkani is the author of the novel Londonstani (2006), about second- and third-generation South Asian immigrants born in London, and has been a journalist at The Financial Times since 1998. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Time Out and Prospect. He was born and raised in Hounslow, attended his local comprehensive school and studied Social and Political Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge.
H . M . Naqvi H M Naqvi is the award-winning author of Home Boy (2009). He has worked in the financial services industry, run a slam venue and taught creative writing at Boston University. He has won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the Phelam Prize for poetry and has participated in the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Jaipur Literature Festival, Art Dubai, Lollapalooza, and the IWP residency at the University of Iowa. Ensconced in Karachi, Naqvi is working on his second novel.
Hogarth Brown Hogarth Brown graduated from Camberwell College of Art in 2005. Since then he has developed his own highly detailed and distinctive style in both fine art and illustration. His work has appeared in several London-based gallery shows, including his Trophallaxis (2010) series at the TenderPixel Gallery. This year saw him launch a series with his first book, Afindica: The Story of the Ethical Elephants, which explores child empowerment and education.
Homa Khaleeli Homa Khaleeli is a Commissioning Editor and writer at the Guardian. She has an MA in South Asian studies at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Her profile of radical Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi is included in Women of the Revolution, an anthology of 40 years of the Guardian’s women’s pages. Homa has also written for the Times Literary Supplement, The Dawn, and has broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She lives in London.
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Ian Jack Ian Jack edited Granta magazine, to which he also contributed, from 1995 to 2007 and before that The Independent on Sunday, which he helped to found. He has judged the Booker and Orwell prizes and chaired the judging panel for Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. Two anthologies of his work have been published; most recently The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain (2009). He is a columnist with the Guardian and lives in London.
Irna Qureshi Irna Qureshi is an anthropologist, writer and oral historian specialising in British Asian heritage. She has collaborated on several exhibitions and books including Home from Home: British Pakistanis in Mirpur, Coming of Age: 21 Years of Mela in the UK and The Grand Trunk Road: From Delhi to the Khyber Pass. Qureshi also blogs about being British, Pakistani and female in Bradford, setting her personal stories against a backdrop of classic Indian films (www.bollywoodinbritain.wordpress.com). Isabel Losada Isabel Losada has worked as an actress, singer, dancer, researcher, television producer, broadcaster, public speaker, comedian and author. She remains firmly committed to narrative non-fiction and swimming against the tide. To find out more, visit www.isabellosada.com
Jamila Gavin Jamila Gavin published her first book, The Orange Tree and Other Stories, in 1979, and has since written many works for children, often inspired by her upbringing in India before and after Independence. In 2000, Coram Boy, set in 18thcentury England, won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and was adapted for the stage. Gavin’s radio play, The God at the Gate, featured on Radio 4 in 2001. Her recent novels include School for Princes: Stories from the Panchatantra and Tales from India. 46
Julian S tair Julian Stair is a potter and writer with work in over 20 international public collections including the V&A and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. He is currently working towards Quietus, a touring solo exhibition at mima opening July 2012. His academic posts include Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art and Senior Research Fellow at the University of the Arts. Recent publications include an essay for the Courtauld Institute of Art’s Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19. Julie O’ Yang Julie O’Yang is a novelist and visual artist based in the Netherlands. Raised in China, she came to Europe in the 1990s to study at the University of London. She then read Japanese Language and Culture at the University of Leiden, Holland and Tokyo, Japan. Her short stories, poetry and articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers worldwide. A Kindle version of her latest novel, Butterfly, will be available this year around Christmas. O’Yang blogs at www.julieoyang. wordpress.com Justine Hardy Justine Hardy has been a journalist for 21 years, many of those spent covering South Asia. Her books range in subject from war to Hindi film. Scoop-Wallah was the story of her time on an Indian newspaper in Delhi, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award and serialised on BBC Radio 4. The Wonder House, a novel set against the conflict in Kashmir, was shortlisted for the 2006 Authors’ Club Best First Novel.
K amila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie’s first novel, In the City by the Sea, was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and her second, Salt and Saffron, won her a place on Orange’s list of ‘21 Writers for the 21st Century’. Her most recent novel is Burnt Shadows (2009), an epic narrative which was shortlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction. Shamsie also writes for the Guardian, The New Statesman, Index on Censorship and Prospect and broadcasts on radio.
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K athry n Hansen
L akshmi Hölmstrom
Kathryn Hansen is a cultural historian with a special interest in Indian theatre. Her most recent book, Stages of Life: Indian Theatre Autobiographies, presents first-person narratives of a quartet of artists in Parsi theatre and is centrally concerned with these as a form of cultural memory. Her earlier book, Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North India, won the A.K. Coomaraswamy Book Prize. She teaches in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas in Austin.
Lakshmi Holmström is author of Indian Fiction in English: The Novels of R. K. Narayan, editor of The Inner Courtyard: Short Stories by Indian Women, and co-editor of Writing from India, a story collection for readers aged 14–16. Holmström has translated a wealth of short stories and novels of the major contemporary writers in Tamil, including Mauni and Pudumaippittan. She is a Founder-Trustee of SALIDAA (South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts Archive).
K avita Bhanot Kavita Bhanot grew up in London and lived in Birmingham before moving to Delhi to direct an Indian-British literary festival and then to work as an editor for India’s first literary agency. She has had several stories published in anthologies and magazines and is the editor of the short story collection Too Asian, Not Asian Enough (Tindal Street Press, 2011). Bhanot is a reader with The Literary Consultancy and a PhD student at Manchester University.
Ketaki Kushari Dyson Ketaki Kushari Dyson is an awardwinning bilingual writer of the Indian diaspora in England. She has published more than 30 titles in Bengali and English covering poetry, fiction, drama, essays, criticism, literary translation and scholarly works. She writes original poetry in both languages, in 10 published collections. She is well-known for her translations of Tagore’s poetry. Dyson has also translated the major post-Tagore poet Buddhadeva Bose.
Kishwar Desai Kishwar Desai has worked in print and television for over 20 years. Her first book, Darlingji:The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt, was published by HarperCollins India in 2007. Her first novel, Witness the Night, was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2009 and was published in the UK by Beautiful Books in 2010.
M alik Sa jad Malik Sajad was raised in Srinagar, Kashmir, and taught by his father how to draw. In 2003, aged 14, he joined Greater Kashmir, Kashmir’s largest circulated English daily, as a political cartoonist. He moved into graphic novels in 2005 and documented subjects from being a Kashmiri in India to the 2010 mass uprising in the valley. These include Terrorism of Peace and Endangered Species. Sajad is studying for an MA in Image and Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London through Inlaks Scholarships 2011. Meaghan Delahunt Meaghan Delahunt was born in Melbourne and is the author of The Red Book (2008) and In the Blue House (2002), which was nominated for the Orange Prize and won the Saltire First Book Prize, Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year and a regional Commonwealth Prize. Her awardwinning short stories have been widely anthologised and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She lectures in creative writing at St Andrews. Delahunt now lives in Edinburgh.
Michael Horovitz Michael Horovitz is an English poet, artist, translator and editor-publisher. In 1959 he founded the New Departures publications while still a student at Brasenose College, Oxford – publishing William S. Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, and Stevie Smith – and continues to edit it. In 1969 Penguin published his Children of Albion anthology, and in 1992 Grandchildren of Albion, his choice of forty younger poets, appeared. Michael’s latest book is A New Waste Land: Timeship Earth at Nillennium. 47
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Mick Brown Mick Brown is a freelance writer and broadcaster who write on music and other cultural affairs for publications including the Sunday Times, the Guardian, Rolling Stone and The Daily Telegraph. Brown is also the author of six books, including: The Spiritual Tourist: A Personal Odyssey through the Outer Reaches of Belief; The Dance of 17 Lives – the true story of Tibet’s 17th Karmapa and Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector.
Mirza Waheed Mirza Waheed was born and brought up in Srinagar, Kashmir. He moved to Delhi to study English Literature at the University of Delhi and worked as a journalist in the city for four years. He came to London in 2001 to join the BBC’s Urdu Service, where he now works as an editor. Waheed attended the Arvon Foundation in 2007. His first novel, The Collaborator (previously In the Valley of Yellow Flowers), is published by Viking, Penguin in 2011.
Mohammed Hanif Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan in 1965. He has written plays for the stage and BBC radio, and his film The Long Night has been shown at festivals around the world. He is a graduate of UEA’s MA in Creative Writing and is the former head of the BBC’s Urdu Service in London. Hanif ’s first novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award.
Moni Mohsin Moni Mohsin founded Pakistan’s first environmental magazine. She later became features editor for The Friday Times. Her debut novel, The End of Innocence, won a National Literary Award in Pakistan, while The Diary of a Social Butterfly, was based on her column in The Friday Times. Her new novel, Tender Hooks, features Pakistani high society. Mohsin has written for, among others, The Times, the Guardian and Boston Review. She lives in London. 48
Naman P. Ahuja Naman P. Ahuja is Associate Professor of Ancient Indian Art and Architecture at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has recently completed a Nehru Fellowship, and has held Fellowships, Visiting Professorships and Curatorial charges at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, SOAS, the British Museum and the Kusnthistorisches Institut in Florence. He has curated exhibitions in India and abroad on themes ranging from Ancient to Modern Art.
Nikesh Shukla Nikesh Shukla is a London-based author and resident poet of the BBC Asian Network. His first novel, Coconut Unlimited, published by Quartet Books, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010. Shukla’s work has been featured on BBC radio, and his writing has been widely published. He has written a sitcom for Channel 4’s Comedy Lab, called Kabaddasses.
Nitasha K aul Dr Nitasha Kaul is originally from Kashmir but now lives in London. She is a writer, poet, traveller, photographer and academic with a special interest in the theme of identity. She has a joint PhD in Economics and Philosophy and is the author of Imagining Economics Otherwise: encounters with identity/difference (Routledge India, 2008). Kaul’s first novel was Residue and her next book features the democratic transition in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.
Niven Govinden Niven Govinden is the author of novels We Are The New Romantics and Graffiti My Soul. His short stories have appeared in Five Dials, Pen Pusher, First City, Time Out, 3:AM, Shortfire Press, BUTT and on BBC Radio 3. He was shortlisted for the 2011 Bristol Short Story Prize.
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Padmini Murray Dr Padmini Ray Murray lectures in publishing studies at the University of Stirling. She has published articles on Byron and gender, embodiment, and book history. Her research interests include the colonial history of the book, the impact of digital technologies on the publishing industry and the graphic novel. She is responsible for Research and Development at the Electric Bookshop, an initiative that focuses on bringing people with a common interest in technology, literature, design and publishing together for discussion and debate Paul Burston Journalist Paul Burston edits the gay and lesbian section of Time Out, winning the Stonewall Award for the magazine’s coverage of gay and lesbian issues in 2008. He also hosts “London’s peerless gay literary salon”, Polari, and is a curator at the London Literature Festival. Burston’s first book was A Queer Romance, which he co-edited. More recently he has edited two anthology books for Glasshouse Books, entitled Boys & Girls and Men & Women.
Paul Gravett Paul is a London-based journalist, curator, writer and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing and promotion for more than 20 years. In 1983 he launched Escape with Peter Stanbury. From 1992 to 2001, Paul was the director of The Cartoon Art Trust. He has written several books on comics and writes for various publications including the Guardian, The Comics Journal, Comic Art, Comics International, Time Out, Blueprint, Neo, The Bookseller, Daily Telegraph and Dazed & Confused.
R ana Dasgupta Rana Dasgupta is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. His first novel, Tokyo Cancelled (2005), was shortlisted for the 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Dasgupta’s second novel, Solo (2009) is an epic tale of the 20th and 21st centuries told from the perspective of a one hundred-year old Bulgarian man. Rana Dasgupta was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the novel Solo, it won both the region and overall bestbook prize.
R ani Singh Rani Singh’s career began in television and writing four children’s books commissioned by the BBC. After playing Sufia Karim in EastEnders, she moved on to radio, presenting and producing investigative reports and documentaries from India and Pakistan. In 2009 she provided written and television analysis on the Indian election for Sky News. She has written for the Spectator and the Observer News Service. In 2009, Palgrave Macmillan approached Singh to write the first international biography of Sonia Gandhi. R avi Vasudevan Ravi Vasudevan is Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. He has taught Film Studies in India and America, held fellowships at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, SOAS and Princeton, and been Smuts Fellow at Cambridge since 2011. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Screen, author of The Melodramatic Public: Film Form and Spectatorship in Indian Cinema and one of the founding editors of the journal Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies.
R azia Iqbal Razia Iqbal is a special correspondent for BBC News, reporting on foreign and domestic stories. She also presents her own books programme on the News Channel, Talking Books. From 2003 til 2009, she was the BBC arts correspondent. For radio, she has presented on Radio 4, including the PM programme, Woman’s Hour and Front Row, as well as on the World Service and 5LIVE. She has also been a foreign reporter for the BBC in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
RE BECC A S WIF T Rebecca Swift worked at Virago Press before co-founding The Literary Consultancy (TLC) in 1996. TLC provides in-depth critiques to writers, mentoring and events at the Free Word Centre, of which TLC is a founding member. TLC is recommended by ACE and Guardian Books Online. To find out more, visit www. literaryconsultancy.co.uk. Rebecca is also a writer. Her work includes poems in various anthologies, an opera libretto and Poetic Lives: Dickinson (2011). 49
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Robert Bly th Dr Robert Blyth is curator of Imperial and Maritime History at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He taught African, British and imperial history at Queen’s University Belfast from 2006–2008. His research interests include the South Asian diaspora around the Indian Ocean and its political, economic and social consequences for the British Empire. Blyth is coauthor of Monsoon Traders: The Maritime World of the East India Company, published in August 2011, and editor of the Journal for Maritime Research. Roger E lsgood Roger Elsgood is the Creative Director of Art and Adventure Ltd, a production company specialising in working with south Asian artists, ideas and texts. Roger is an independent producer for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and the World Service. He has recently adapted Mani Shankar Mukherjee’s classic Bengali novel Chowringhee, to air as a Drama on 3 in April 2012, and is artistic director of A Moment of Mishearing, a theatrical production written and performed by novelist Amit Chaudhuri, touring the UK next year.
Rohini Chowdhury Rohini Chowdhury has more than twenty books and several short stories to her credit. Her most recent publication is the translation of the 17th century Braj Bhasha text Ardhakathanak. Her forthcoming works include an exploration of mathematics in India from ancient times to the modern, and a translation of the Hindi novel Tyagpatra by Jainendra, into English. She also runs a story website at www.longlongtimeago.com
Romesh Gunesekera Romesh Gunesekera’s first novel, Reef, was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. He is also the author of The Sandglass (winner of the BBC Asia Award) and Heaven’s Edge, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His fourth novel, The Match, was described by the Irish Times as a book that ‘shows why fiction is written – and read’. Bloomsbury is publishing Gunesekera’s new novel, The Prisoner of Paradise, in February 2012.
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Rosie Thomas Rosie Thomas is a pioneer of the academic study of popular Indian cinema and has written widely on the subject. She is co-founder and co-editor of BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, a forum for new research on South Asian film, screen-based arts and new media screen cultures. Trained as a social anthropologist at the LSE, Rosie has made programmes for Channel Four, including current affairs investigations for Dispatches. She is the Co-Director of the India Media Centre.
Rowdya A min Rowyda Amin was born in Newfoundland, Canada. In 2009, she was awarded the Wasafiri New Writing Prize for poetry. Rowyda has performed at many UK venues including the 2011 Ledbury Poetry Festival and the Brighton Festival. Her poems have appeared in several magazines, including Magma and Wasafiri, and in the anthologies Ten, Bird Book, Coin Opera and Exposure. Rowyda is currently completing a Ph.D thesis on the topic of ‘Identity in Arab Diaspora Fiction’.
Ruby Sahota Ruby Sahota trained at Drama Studio London and made her professional theatre debut playing Basanti and Uma in Bollywood, Yet Another Love Story (RIFCO/Riverside Studios). Her recent plays include Mistaken… Annie Besant in India (Vayu Naidu/Yvonne Arnaud), The Hot Zone (Conspirator’s Kitchen/BAC) and Behna (Soho Theatre/Kali Theatre). Sahota joined the Vayu Naidu Company in 2009. She is in the process of writing her first stage play and has just made her first film, playing the lead in Throw of a Dice. Sandeep Parmar Sandeep Parmar was born in Nottingham in 1979 and raised in Southern California. She received her PhD in English Literature from University College London in 2008. Sandeep received an MA in Creative Writing (poetry) from the University of East Anglia in 2003. She is the Reviews Editor for The Wolf magazine. She has published several essays on Loy’s archived prose. Her poetry has been published in various journals in the UK and the US, such as Cimarron Review, The Manhattan Review, Stand and World Literature Today.
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Sarnath Baner jee
Sathnam Sanghera
Sarnath, an Indian graphic novelist, artist, and film maker, was born in Calcutta and lives and works in Delhi. After a degree in biochemistry, he received an MA in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths College, London. His first novel, Corridor (Penguin, 2004), was widely regarded as India’s first graphic novel. His second novel was The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers (2007). Sarnath co-founded Phantomville, a publishing house for graphic novels. He received the 2008 British Council Best Young Publisher Award.
Sathnam Sanghera was born to Punjabi parents in the West Midlands in 1976. His first book, The Boy With The Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton was named Mind Book of the Year in 2009. In the same year he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters for services to journalism from the University of Wolverhampton. This was followed by a President’s Medal from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2010. Sanghera lives in London.
Saradha Soobrayen Saradha Soobrayen is a freelance poetry editor and the reviews editor for Modern Poetry in Translation. She works as a mentor and coach providing professional development for emerging and established writers and artists. Her poetry appears in the Red Anthology, The Forward Anthology and Oxford Poets Anthology. Soobrayen received an Eric Gregory Award in 2004.
Sascha A . Akhtar Sascha Akhtar was born and educated in Pakistan and the US. In 2003, she was awarded a fellowship to attend the MFA Creative Writing Programme at UMass Amherst. Her debut poetry collection The Grimoire of Grimalkin is available on Salt Publishing. She is the co-producer of the successful La Langoustine Est Morte reading series. Her work appears in the Shearsman anthology on UK women’s poetries, Infinite Difference. A 2008 article in the Guardian, named Akhtar one of the top twelve poets to watch. Sarfraz M anzoor Sarfraz Manzoor is a journalist, author and broadcaster. He is a writer for the Guardian and The Observer, and his writing has appeared in Esquire, Prospect, The New Statesman, Index on Censorship and the Daily Mail. He is currently reporting for BBC 2’s The Culture Show and he is a familiar voice on Radio 4. His critically acclaimed memoir Greetings from Bury Park was published in the UK by Bloomsbury in the UK and Vintage in the US.
Seema Anand Seema Anand is a passionate and inspiring storyteller. She specialises in global mythologies: comparing and retelling stories through different cultural nuances, giving everyone ownership of the tales. Her ongoing work in researching and collating stories from the ancient Asian texts is an invaluable resource, both in the corporate and the education sectors. Story, according to Seema, is a physical skill and a visual art. Her work is developed to include alternative aesthetic and cultural perspectives for all ages and capacities. Shama rahman Shama Rahman is a singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, who has curated events from the purely musical to cross-disciplinary 3D experiences. She has played festivals in Bangladesh, England and France, including Fete de La Musique and Secret Garden Party. Shama has also collaborated with musicians, notably with the London Sitar Ensemble at Southbank, London Bulgarian Choir and The Doves at the Electric Proms at the Roundhouse. She is currently starring in a bilingual BBC drama series Bishaash. Shabibi Shah Shabibi Shah graduated from Kabul University and was a teacher for 12 years in Afghanistan. She left with her husband and three children to escape the then Communist regime. Since relocating to England, Shah has studied bilingual counselling and interpreting, and is active in helping refugees. She is a trustee of the Ruth Hayman Trust, which supports the education of adults living in the UK whose first language is not English. Shah is a published poet in her first language, Dari. 51
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Smita Singh Smita Singh is the chairperson and treasurer of Vaani, a platform she initiated for Asian women writers to meet and share ideas. She has a first class MA in English Literature and a plethora of experiences from working in the city. Singh currently teaches at postgraduate level in London. She writes short stories and novels, and believes that Asian women writers need to be encouraged and given opportunities to be heard.
Sonia Faleiro Sonia Faleiro is a reporter, writer and winner of the prestigious CNN Young Writer of the Year Award. She writes for several Indian publications, including Vogue, Marie Claire, India Today, Indian Express, Tehelka and Outlook. She is the author of The Girl, a novel. Beautiful Thing is her first full-length work of non-fiction and is based on five years of research in Bombay’s dance bars. Faleiro was born in Goa, studied in Edinburgh and lives in San Francisco. Soumik Datta Born in Kolkata, Soumik Datta, moved to London aged 11 but returned to master the Indian sarod with the legendary Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta. Datta gained an MA in Composition at Trinity College of Music, London. An artist in residence at Southbank centre, Datta has collaborated with Akram Khan, Talvin Singh, Bill Bailey, Jay Z and Beyoncé. Following his sell-out Circle of Sound at the Southbank Centre, Datta brings Borderland, commissioned by the DSC South Asian Literature Festival. Suhel Seth Suhel Seth has performed in more than 135 English plays and six films, and has authored two books including In Your Face, a collection of his newspaper columns. Seth founded Equus Advertising, Quadra Advisory and then Counselage, India’s only strategic marketing and branding consultancy. He sits on the international boards of Cavendish and RADA. As a member of the Experts Committee of the Railway Board of India, he is also advisor to the railways and the Indian railway minister. 52
Sunand Prasad Sunand Prasad, son of artist Devi Prasad, was born in India in 1950. He came to the UK in 1962 and studies at the University of Cambridge, The Architectural Association School of Architecture and the Royal College of Art. In 1988 he co-founded architectural practice Penoyre & Prasad LLP. From 2007 to 2009 he was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He has campaigned in recent years on issues relating to climate change and the built environment.
Sunita Pattani Sunita Pattani is an emotional eating expert and author of My Secret Affair with Chocolate Cake. Having healed herself of constant overeating and dieting, Pattani is passionate about showing others how to do the same. She believes that we were all born with built-in physical signals that, when followed, point us towards our natural body shape. Pattani’s work also explores how to use the power of your mind to create a better life for yourself. Surina Narula Surina Narula has been spearheading the philanthropic activities of the DSC Group. She is engaged with community development and plays a key role in the Consortium for Street Children, of which she is currently president. She has received numerous prestigious awards, including the MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list (2008), Asian of the Year Award in 2005 from Asian Who’s Who International and the Hind Rattan Award by the NRI Welfare Society of India.
Tim E dwards Tim Edwards is a research and information specialist for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and a trustee of the Bhopal Medical Appeal, a UK-based charity supporting medical rehabilitation for gas and water pollution affected people. Tim has studied the legal, social and environmental consequences of Bhopal for 15 years, editing the campaign website www.bhopal.net and writing in New Internationalist, Ecologist Asia, Marie Claire and the Guardian.
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Valerie Henitiuk Valerie Henitiuk is currently based at the University of East Anglia, researching the intersection of translation studies, world literature, Japanese literature and women’s writing. Henitiuk has been a visiting scholar at both Harvard and Columbia Universities and at Kokugakuin University in Japan. She is director of the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and editor of the journal In Other Words: the Journal for Literary Translators. Henitiuk promotes literary translation through various national and international committees. Vay u Naidu Vayu Naidu is an accomplished storyteller, writer, performer, workshop leader and teacher. Her art of storytelling derives from the Indic oral tradition and its energy comes quite simply through the telling, not reading, of a story. Imagery is dense with Rasa,or mood, triggering emotional resonances.Storytelling for Naidu is about composing oral literature, where the emotive impulse is from the oral imagination.
VE RONIC A DOUBLE DAY Before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Veronica Doubleday accompanied her husband John Baily to Afghanistan and lived in the ancient city of Herat during his research into traditional Afghan music. Doubleday became actively involved in music research, working with female musicians and recording their singing and drumming. Veronica has given regular concerts at various venues in Europe and in the United States. She is the author of Three Women of Herat. Virendra Sharma MP Virendra Sharma was elected MP in Ealing-Southall in July 2007. He was born in India and speaks fluent Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu. He has served as a Councillor in Ealing for the past 25 years, including a term as Mayor. He is a Local School Governor at Three BridgesPrimary school and is also a member of the International Development Select Committee and the Human Rights Committee.
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Classes / Corporate away days / Cooking parties Sutra Kitchen Hospitality Providing you with a bespoke vegetarian catering service for your special event at a venue of your choice or in the comfort of your home. Specialising in canapĂŠs and bowl food our global menus are innovative and sure to impress your guests.
Dinner parties / Corporate events / Weddings / Birthdays
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Festival Highlights 2010
Twin Dynasties, 21 October
“Tim book l
Kalagora, 21 October
Kashmir: Power of the Pen, 15 October
Amit Chaudhuri Presents “Found Music”, 16 October
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Tara A
Pakistan literature with Granta, 17 October
mes and the Thames� launch, 24 October
Journey to South Asia, 17 October
Arts, 18 October
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Support the DSC South Asian Literature Festival with the Festival Friends schemee The Friend’s scheme is a way for dedicated Festival goers to support the ongoing development of the Festival. Membership of the scheme lasts for 12 months from the date of joining and entitles members to a range of benefits. Membership categories: • Member Friends: £25 for individual or £40 joint membership • Gold Friends: £200 for Gold Friend membership Member Friends receive: • Priority seating for you and up to three guests to all events* • Acknowledgement of your support on our website Gold Friends, in addition to the above, also receive: • Acknowledgement of your support at Festival events • Invitation (for two) to the Festival’s opening night event • Exclusive invitation (for two) to the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Gala Reception • Four free pairs of tickets to any events during the Festival For more information, please contact: friends@southasianlitfest.com * subject to availability
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The Longlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is very unique: it supports all those who have written about the South Asian region and its people, with no borders or boundaries about the eligibility of the author themselves. The prize will be awarded for the best work of fiction pertaining to the South Asian region, published in English, including translations into English. It is guided by an international Advisory Committee comprising MJ Akbar, Urvashi Butalia, Tina Brown, William Dalrymple, Lord Meghnad Desai, David Godwin, Surina Narula, Senath Walter Perera, Nayantara Sahgal and Michael Worton. With the announcement of the longlist, the anticipation is high on what will be the winning piece of literature. The Jury includes internationally acclaimed literary figures: Dr. Alastair Niven (UK), Faiza S Khan (Pakistan), Marie Brenner(USA), Fakrul Alam (Bangladesh) and Ira Pande, Chair (India). The Jury will deliberate on the longlist to announce 5 or 6 selected works as the shortlist at the DSC South Asian Literature Festival, to be held in UK on 24th October at Shakespeare’s Globe. The winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature will be declared at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2012.
Shakespeare Globe
Book covers run L–R, starting top left, as listed below
Atiq Rahimi: The Patience Stone (Chatto & Windus/Random House-UK, Translated by Polly McLean) Chandrakanta: A Street in Srinagar (Zubaan Books, India, Translated by Manisha Chaudhry) Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: One Amazing Thing (Hamish Hamilton/ Penguin India) Jill McGivering: The Last Kestrel (Blue Door/HarperCollins-UK) Kalpish Ratna: The Quarantine Papers (HarperCollins-India) Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told (Viking/Penguin India) Kishwar Desai: Witness the Night (HarperCollins/HarperCollins-India) Manu Joseph: Serious Men (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, India) Namita Devidayal: Aftertaste (Random House, India) Omair Ahmad: Jimmy the Terrorist (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin India) Samrat Upadhyay: Buddha’s Orphan (Rupa Publications, India) Shehan Karunatilaka: Chinaman (Random House, India) Siddharth Chowdhury: Day Scholar (Picador/Pan Macmillan, India) Tabish Khair: The Thing About Thugs (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins-India) Usha K.R: Monkey-man (Penguin/Penguin India) U.R. Ananthamurthy: Bharathipura (Oxford University Press, India, Translated by Susheela Punitha) 63
Festival Team Alexia Tucker, Team Co-ordinator; Amar Purohit, Events Team; Aseem Kulkarni, Features Editor; Bhavit Mehta, Director; Caroline Steer, Marketing Assistant (online); Chris D’bais, Technical Co-ordinator; CJ Montague, 24 Hour Book; Alan Crompton, 24 Hour Book; Dominique Dunne, Intern; Emily Harmer, Production Assistant; Hannah Falvey, Production Assistant; Iman Qureshi, Website Editor; John Farrow, Web Developer; Jon Slack, Director; Lex Delaney, Assistant Editor (web); Meg O’Connell, Production Assistant; Meghna Hazarika, Team Support; Neeraj Nathwani, Photographer; Nicki Crossley, Programme Contributor; Padmini Ray Murray, Production Assistant; Pascal Barry, Designer; Rachel Moilliet, Production Assistant; Radha Spratt, Deputy Website Editor; Ramita Tejpal, Box Office Co-ordinator; Ravi Purohit, Photographer; Resham Naqvi, Photographer; Ruth D’Rozario, Education Co-ordinator; Sona Hathi, Web Contributor; Natasha Suri, Assistant Editor (web); Nina Grayson, Assistant Editor (web); Vivienne Ega, Assistant Editor (web); Stephen Wildish, Web Designer; Suman Bhuchar, Partner Development; Sunil Chauhan, Publicity Assistant; Tori Hunt, Programme Contributor
Thank You Aaron O’Dowling-Keane, Pembazuka Press; Akshay Pathak, German Book Office; Akshay Pathak, German Book Office; Alan Staton, The Booksellers Association; Allen Slack; Amanda Curley, Afghanaid; Angie Smith, Palgrave Macmillan; Anita Roy, Zubaan Books; Anna Lewis, CompletelyNovel; Annabel Robinson, FMcM Associates; Bashob Dey, DSC Ltd.; Beejal Soni; Bill Samuel, Emirates Literature Festival; Bobby Nayyar, DIPNET; Brett Walker, The Bookseller; Brett Walker, We Love This Book; Chandan Mahal, The Women’s Library; Charlotte Allen, Telegram; Chi Kavindele, Royal Commonwealth Society; Chloe Johnson-Hill, Random House; Chris Burton, FMcM Associates;Chris Meade, If:Book; Claire Anker, Publishers Association; Claire Morrison, Palgrave;; Clara Womersley, Random House; Colin Toogood, Bhopal Medical Aid; Daisy Hasan, India Media Centre; Dalma Slack; Daniel Hahn, BCLT;David Godwin; Deepa Kumar, DSC Ltd.; Denise Jones, Brick Lane Books; Divya Mathur, Nehru Centre; Dominic Kippin, Portsmouth Bookfest; Dylan Calder, Pop-Up Festival of Stories; Ed Wood, We Love This Book; Elka Bhatt;Ella Kahn, Society of Young Publishers; Emma Clackson; Emma D’Costa, Commonwealth Foundation; Emma House,Publishers Association; Farhana Shaikh, Asian Writer; Fiona McMorrough, FMcM Associates; Fiona, Baithak Records; Francis Alexander, Chelsea Theatre; Gemma Seltzer, Arts Council; Gita Shankardass; Gunweena Chadha,CII; Harbakhsh Grewal, UK Punjab Heritage Association; Heme Mehta; Henry Jeffreys, Granta Books; HS Narula,DSC Ltd; Ingo , Wotever World; Jasminder Kasturia, High Commission of India; Jay Thaker; Jayne Roscoe, Templar;Jennifer McDerra, Commonwealth Foundation; Jessica Axe, FMcM Associates; Jessica Smith, Royal Commonwealth Society ; Jo Henry, Book Marketing Limited; Joanna Ellis, Faber & Faber; John Hampson, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea; Jon Fawcett, British Library; Jonathan Douglas, National Literacy trust;; Julia Kingsford, World Book Night; Kalina Dimitrova, Brick Lane Bookshop; Kalina Dimitrova, Royal Commonwealth Society; Kate Arthurs,British Council; Kate Cooper, FMcM Associates; Kate Griffin, BCLT; Kate Rochester, Granta; Katherine Josselyn,HarperCollins; Kavi Thakrar, Dishoom Covent Garden; Krishan Mehta; Laura Soar, London Review Bookshop; Leila Telford, Writers’ Centre Norwich; Lindsey Price, Chelsea Theatre; Lindsey Price, Discover Children’s Centre; Lisa Shakespeare, Orion; Liz Thomson, BookBrunch; Louise Holmes, Room to Read; Louise Rhind-Tutt; Manhad Narula,DSC Ltd; MariaAnna Petrou, Stonewall; Mark Ross, Diorama Arts; Mary Rahman, MRPR; Marzia Ghiselli, The Bookseller;; Matthew Clarke; Mayank Mehta; Milen Shah; Mina Mehta; Miriam Robinson, Foyles; Mita Kapur,Siyahi; Mitchell Albert, International Pen; Naomi Holt, Society of Young Publishers; Naren Hathi, Eleph Designs & Construct; Naresh Nagrecha, Nagrecha Foundation; Neelini Sarkar, HarperCollins India; Neelini Sarkar, Young Indian Publishers; Nicholas Clee, BookBrunch; Nicky Potter, Frances Lincoln; Nigel Roby, The Bookseller; Nina Joshi Ramsey; Nina Morokar, Indus Catering; Norma Manhire; Nova Donohoe, Shakespeare’s Globe; Oliver Carruthers,Rich Mix; Palvi Haria-Shah, Hyver Hall; Parmjit Singh, UK Punjab Heritage Association; Patrick Walsh; Paul Cutts,Exhibition Road; Racheal Brasier, Discover Children’s Centre; Rachel Buchanan, Free Word Centre; Rachel Stevens,British Council; Rakesh Bhanot; Rebecca Abrahams, Charnwood Arts; Rebecca Pearson, Faber & Faber; Rebecca Swift, The Literary Consultancy; Rhiannon Wilkins, Rich Mix; Richard Alford, BCLT; Rikhi Ubhi, Tindal Street Press;Rita Hunt, CII;; Roger Elsgood, Arts and Adventure; Rosie Thomas, India Media Centre;; Rukhsana Yasmin, Profile;Sa’ad Idris; Sailesh Ram, Eastern Eye; Sandeep Mahal, The Reading Agency; Sangeeta Bahadur, Nehru Centre; Sara Wajid, National Maritime Museum; Sarah Sanders; Saskia Vogel, Granta; Shamil Thakrar, Dishoom Covent Garden;;Shanti Venkatesh, Nehru Centre; Sharmilla Beezmohum, Wasafiri; Shourav Mitra, DSC Ltd; Smita Singh, Vaani;Sophie Scott, The Women’s Library; Soumik Datta, Baithak Records; Stephen Escritt, Free Word Centre;; Surina Narula, DSC Ltd; Susanna Nicklin, British Council; Susheila Nasta, Wasafiri; Thalia Cassimatis, Rich Mix; Tim Godfey, The Booksellers Association; Tom Williams; Vayu Naidu, Vayu Naidu Company; Vidushi Khera, Hamner;Vivian Archer, Newham Bookshop; Vivienne Wordley, Emirates Literature Festival; Yashvinee Narechania, Room to Read 64
Tickets & Venue Information Tickets can be purchased online at: www.dscsouthasianlitfest.com/programme-2011 Contact boxoffice@southasianlitfest.com for ticketing queries. All tickets are available to purchase at venues where available – book in advance to avoid disappointment.
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LONDON 1. British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB 2. Chelsea Theatre 7 World’s End Place (off Kings Road) London SW10 0DR 3. Discover Children’s Story Centre 383-387 High Street London E15 4QZ
UK-WIDE 6. India Media Centre University of Westminster 5-8 Lower John Street London W1F 9AU 7. London Review Bookshop 14 Bury Place London WC1A 2JL 8. National Maritime Museum Romney Road Greenwich London SE10 9NF
4. Dishoom – Covent Garden St Martin’s Courtyard 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane 9. Rich Mix London WC2H 9FB 35-47 Bethnal Green Road London E1 6L 5. Free Word Centre 60 Farringdon Road 10. Shakespeare’s Globe London EC1R 3GA 21 New Globe Walk London SE1 9DT
11. The Commonwealth Club 25 Northumberland Avenue City of London WC2N 5AP 12. The Nehru Centre 8 South Audley Street, London W1K 1HF 13. The Royal Vauxhall Tavern 372 Kennington Lane London SE11 5HY
Embrace Arts Richard Attenborough centre Lancaster Road Leicester LE1 7HA New Theatre Royal 20-24 Guildhall Walk Portsmouth PO1 2DD University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park Norwich NR4 7TJ
14. The Women’s Library London Metropolitan University 25 Old Castle Street London E1 7NT
Information correct at time of going to press. Please check online for any changes and additions.
P r i n c i pa l S p o n s o r
london & the uk 7–24 October 2011 Official Souvenir Programme
AN ONLINE HUB FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE
www.dscsouthasianlitfest.com
Festival produced by amphora arts