2011 Festival Themes
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Our Festival has a selection of events for kids that will thrill and enchant, all the more because they’ll be performed by expert storytellers! >more
Political animals of every persuasion will be thrilled to see that our Festival has its finger on the pulse of the issues that animate today’s world, and range beyond specific geographical regions. >more
If you have a hankering for travel stories, come and join DSC SALF on an adventure through time and space. >more
The saying goes that you have to understand yesterday, in order to understand today. Come closer, then, to understanding the world we live in by delving – with the help of experts in their fields – into the lost, but not forgotten, worlds of our forebears. >more
For all those eager always to be the first to know, our Festival will see the exclusive launches of new books by established and emerging authors.
If you’re excited by the ‘whys’, ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ of language, these events are definitely for you.
Our Festival has a selection of events for kids that will thrill and enchant, all the more because they’ll be performed by expert storytellers!
Children’s author Jamila Gavin will share her new books: one that reinvigorates tales from the ancient Panchatantra collection of Indian fables, and the other that makes Hindu stories of Gods and demons colourful and fun.
School for Princes: Stories from the Panchatantra
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/school-for-princes-stories-from-the-panchatantra
Tales from India
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/tales-from-india
Expert storyteller Vayu Naidu brings to life the tale of Diwali, the Festival of Light. Meet Ram, Sita, Hanuman and a host of other characters, while you enjoy Diwali face-painting, creating rangoli patterns, and delicious Indian food.
Diwali at Dishoom:
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/diwali-at-dishoom
Hogarth Brown, illustrator and children’s author, will read from his new book, about a herd of ethical elephants from thelandofNoozoo, each with secrets to share about our planet and the animal kingdom.
Afindica: The Story of the Ethical Elephants
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/afindica
Afindica: Discover a New Land
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/afindica-discover-a-new-land
Bhavisha Morjaria and Kanchan Wadhwani will tell you about little Yash losing his smile (… will he ever find it again?), Mister Jeejeebhoy and his mysterious birds, and also the glummest peacock you ever met, and all because he wanted to be a plain grey!
Little Yash Has Lost His Smile!
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/little-yash-has-lost-his-smile
Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/mr-jeejeebhoy-and-the-birds
The Glum Peacock
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/the-glum-peacock
Political animals of every persuasion will be thrilled to see that our Festival has its finger on the pulse of the issues that animate today’s world, and range beyond specific geographical regions.
Are things changing for women as much as we’d like in life and in literature? Kishwar Desai and Dipika Rai discuss how women are represented in writing and whether these representations bear any resemblance to their lived experiences.
Strong Women in Fiction
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/strong-women-in-fiction
Artist Malik Sajad has captured the transformation of Kashmir from what was considered an untouched and tranquil paradise to a war-torn land, disfigured and scarred by the signs of the ongoing conflict. He discusses, with author Justine Hardy, the importance of recording this change and telling these stories.
Kashmir Black & White: Stories From A Troubled Land
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/kashmir-black-white-exploring-storytelling-heritage
Satire has always been the bluff authors have played to make people think anew about their world and the things in it they take for granted. Moni Mohsin and Farahad Zama discuss how some of their own seemingly shallow or ridiculous characters are really rather deep.
Not Just for Laughs: A Light Take on the Serious Stuff
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/not-just-for-laughs-a-light-take-on-the-serious-stuff
Sonia Faleiro spent years discovering the lives of bar dancers in Bombay: uneducated, sexually exploited and sold by their families into a sordid world where women are just bodies with price tags. She discusses her book, Beautiful Thing, with journalist Anita Sethi, and Surina Narula, President of the Consortium of Street Children’s Charities.
The Dancing Girls of Bombay: What Price for Women’s Rights?
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/the-dancing-girls-of-bombay-what-price-for-womens-rights
Sex is an uncomfortable subject in the South Asian psyche; more so when it’s not heterosexual or ‘straight’, and novelists seem to avoid engaging with it. Why is this? Join a select panel of authors to discover what the publishing industry appears to be running from and why.
Same-Same: Sex, Love and Other Queer-ies
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/same-same-sex-love-and-other-queer-ies
The world’s worst industrial disaster, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, took place in 1984 in Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, as a result of a leak in the Union Carbide India Limited plant: it killed and permanently maimed tens of thousands of people, and children are, to this day, born with severe and deadly birth defects. The victims have not had justice, in the form of compensation, and the battle continues, as this documentary film and accompanying discussion reveal.
Bhopali
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/bhopali
If you have a hankering for travel stories, come and join DSC SALF on an adventure through time and space.
Historian Irna Qureshi takes us on a journey along Asia’s most famous highway, the Grand Trunk Road. The British used it as their main artery of conquest, and a majority of immigrants to Britain come from along its route, which connects Chittagong in Bangladesh with Kabul in Afghanistan.
Grand Trunk Road: The Most Famous Highway in South Asia
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/grand-trunk-road-the-most-famous-highway-in-south-asia
Take a trip through time, as Razia Iqbal, Seema Anand and Robert Blyth discuss the fortunes of the East India Company over the centuries, from its first forays into strange lands to the fate of Lahore-Europeans once they returned home; all in the stunning environs of the National Maritime Museum’s ‘Traders’ gallery.
Tales of the Monsoon Trade
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/east-india-company-history-heritage-and-untold-stories
Born on a tea plantation in colonial Ceylon, Sir Christopher Ondaatje was sent to boarding school in England, until his family found their fortunes reversed with the country gaining independence. He left school, got a job, and made his fortune, literally. Having reinvented himself at his height as an author and explorer, he speaks of his colonial life and influences with Sri Lankan author Romesh Gunesekera.
The Last Colonial: Curious Stories and Adventures from a Vanishing World
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/the-last-colonial-curious-stories-and-adventures-from-a-vanishing-world
80,000 Asians had to leave Uganda within 90 days when President Idi Amin ordered their expulsion in 1972 from his country, saying he’d been instructed to do so in a dream by God. With Barbara Harrell-Bond and Firoze Manji, hear their stories about leaving their ancestral homes to start over in new lands.
From Citizen to Refugee: The Citizens of Uganda
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/from-citizen-to-refugee
Rana Dasgupta has always eschewed the sort of stereotyping that demands a ‘certain type of book’ from a South Asian author. He joins journalist Anita Sethi in discussing their travels to different parts of the globe: he lives in Delhi and writes about the ‘outside’, while Anita Sethi lives in London and looks ‘in’ to South Asia.
Travelling Tales: Looking Out, Looking In
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/south-asia-looking-out-looking-in
Biographer Barry Miles and poet Michael Horovitz were both intimate friends of the iconic Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. His trip to Indiain 1962 kick-started a new rush to the subcontinent by jaded Westerners seeking enlightenment, and the resplendent rambling rollercoaster of highs and lows in the form of the Indian Journals is the result. Miles and Horovitz shed light on the man and his work.
Allen Ginsberg’s Indian Journals
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/allen-ginsberg-the-indian-journals
The saying goes that you have to understand yesterday, in order to understand today. Come closer, then, to understanding the world we live in by delving – with the help of experts in their fields – into the lost, but not forgotten, worlds of our forebears.
Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri-American poet who popularised the ghazal form in America, left behind a legacy of rare beauty. Authors Kamila Shamsie and Mirza Waheed read from his poetry, and pay tribute to Ali through carefully selected passages and images.
Kashmir Heritage Poetry: A Tribute to Agha Shahid Ali
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/kashmir-heritage-poetry-a-tribute-to-agha-shahid-ali-free
Nothing brings to life an era more vividly than the personal stories of people who lived in the particular age. The autobiographies of four Parsi actors and playwrights from early-twentieth century theatre and cinema give an insider’s view of a dynamic and absorbing period in history.
Forgotten Era: Parsi Theatre and Early Indian Cinema
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/forgotten-era-parsi-theatre-and-early-indian-cinema
Sathnam Sanghera chairs this panel discussion about the history, from the 16th century onwards, of this exquisite monument to the Sikh faith. Accompanied by a live kirtan performance by Bhai Ghulam Muhammad Chand, and a Sikh Master Swordsman revealing thorough a live demonstration the tactics of the most significant battles fought at the site, it promises to be a rare treat.
The Golden Temple of Amritsar: Reflections of the Past
http://southasianlitfest.com/artists/satnam-sanghera
Seema Anand, a storyteller who exudes charm and flair, tells the tales of Tilism-e-Hoshruba – a part of the larger 17th century Mughal text Hamzanama – and conjures fantastic images of sorcery, seduction and deceit in this exciting session.
Land of Enchantment of the Senses
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/stories-from-the-hamzanama
For all those eager always to be the first to know, our Festival will see the exclusive launches of new books by established and emerging authors.
Rani’s Singh’s new biography of the enigmatic Sonia Gandhi will shed light on the life of this most public and intensely private leader. She’s dealt with the tragic deaths of her closest family members with grace and stoicism. Now, she’s displaying the same reserve in her political dealings, but to what effect? The funny and vitriolic Suhel Seth, and MP Virendra Sharma will join Singh in this talk.
Sonia Gandhi: In A New Light
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/sonia-gandhi-extraordinary-life-an-indian-destiny
Comic books have shown themselves to be the newest vehicle for the propagation of the vast body of stories that form the Indian mythological canon. Finally, the myriad gods and demons, in all their thunderous glory, can be depicted in full colour and special effects, while still allowing the reader space for the sort of quiet contemplation that characterises immersive reading.
Indian Mythology: A Graphic Look
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/indian-mythology-a-graphic-look
Commonwealth Prize-winner Mohammed Hanif discusses his latest novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, with journalist, author and broadcaster Sarfraz Mansoor. At heart, a novel about how men relate to women, and how both are coping with the emergence of women into traditionally male realms.
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/our-lady-of-alice-bhatti
Some Asian writers want to write about ‘Asian’ themes, and others don’t. This new anthology allows these authors the space to do exactly what they want, and write about the things that interest them, whether too Asian, or not Asian enough.
Too Asian, Not Asian Enough
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/too-asian-not-asian-enough
If you’re excited by the ‘whys’, ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ of language, these events are definitely for you.
Translators Rohini Chowdhury and Arunava Sinha join the Literary Editor of the The Independent, Boyd Tonkin, as they discuss the questions around the translation ofIndia’s rich native literature into today’s ‘lingua franca’.
Accessing Indian Literature: The Vital Art of Translation
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/indian-literature-in-translation
Literature in Translation: Indian Languages (Norwich)
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/literature-in-translation-indian-languages-norwich
Four experienced and successful women editors and writers share the secrets of the trade. If you’re an aspiring writer and want to leave your mark, these experts tell you how the best of the best make magic happen.
How To Get Published
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/how-to-get-published
Fans of Tagore’s work in Bengali have always complained that the essence of this Nobel Prize-winning polymath has been squandered in numerous poor translations over the years. Join Amit Chaudhuri, Anita Sethi, Ian Jack and Ketaki Kushari Dyson as they discuss what has been lost (and gained) over the years/
Tagore Lost (and Found) in Translation
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/tagore-lost-in-translation
Are you keen for some one-on-one instruction from a professional? In a special workshop, storyteller Vayu Naidu trains you on how to tell a story so that’s its truly unforgettable. Also conducting a workshop is translator Arunava Sinha, who schools you in the challenges of how to translate from an Indian language into English.
Workshop: Translating from Indian Languages
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/translation-from-indian-languages-workshop
Workshop: A Way With Words
http://southasianlitfest.com/program/a-way-with-words-workshop-for-teachers