Indian writing comes to the UK
The biggest festival of Indian writing ever to take place outside the subcontinent is starting just after Easter. There will be lots of seminars and literary events from 18-24 April, mainly in London and right across the UK too. You can see the full programme here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-projects-icd-lbf-events.htm
Lots of exciting things are happening: India will take on the Rest of the World at cricket; bookshops will learn about exciting new Indian titles they can stock; and Indian writers will have a chance to get to know their UK counterparts through a special pairing initiative we have set up.
There are plenty of public sessions you might like, and if you want to come to seminars in London Book Fair itself then please contact Justyna Kwasniewski directly at: Justyna.Kwasniewski@britishcouncil.org .
If you can't make it, keep an eye out for the 45 Indian writers who will pop up in various places in print, on TV and on the radio during that week. See below for details on all the events and a full list of partners.
INDIA 09: THROUGH FRESH EYES
LEADING INDIAN WRITERS GATHER AT LONDON BOOK FAIR 2009
The British Council and The London Book Fair
India Market Focus Seminar Programme & External Events
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PROGRAMME OF BRITISH COUNCIL PARTNER EVENTS (London)
SATURDAY 18 APRIL, 14.30-16.00, British Library
Cities in Literature
Authors whose writing is very much tied to their cities explain the primacy of those places in their writing.
Panellists: Suketu Mehta, Namdeo Dhasal, Austin Williams, Sankar
Chair: James Boyle, Chair, British Council Scotland Advisory Panel
Venue: British Library, Conference Centre, Main Auditorium
SATURDAY 18 APRIL, 19.30, Globe Theatre
International Futures
Free the Word! – International Pen
Eminent writers of tomorrow talk about the subject of Heaven and Earth.
Writers: Kamila Shamsie, Tomáš Zmeškal, Petina Gappah and Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih
Venue: Shakespeare’s Globe, Underglobe
In association with PEN International Magazine
SUNDAY 19 APRIL, 10.00, Hampstead Cricket Club
India 09: Through Fresh Eyes Celebration 20/20 Cricket Match
India v Rest of the World
To celebrate India 09: Through Fresh Eyes literature programme at the London Book Fair, the British Council, with support from Asia Literary Review, is holding a 20/20 cricket match featuring Indian writers, publishers and British Council staff and their counterparts from the Rest of the World. The match will be held at the picturesque Hampstead Cricket Club in London and will be followed by tea.
The Rest of the World team will be captained by Ray McLennan, managing director of book distributor Motilal UK, and the India team by Amitava Datta, Head, Events, British Council India.
Most Indian authors and publishers will be at the Hampstead Cricket that day to cheer their side, and this includes Ramachandra Guha, author of A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport.
Venue: Hampstead Cricket Club , 25 Lymington Road, London
SUNDAY 19 APRIL, 14.30-16.00, British Library
Gender and Sexual Politics in India and Beyond
Is gender dead? Have the politics of sexual identity been given a decent burial? Or are these issues still ticking behind the post-feminist façade of the publishing and the literary world? Publishers and authors join words on issues of gender and sexuality.
Panellists: Salma, Urvashi Butulia, James Bridle, Sangeeta Datta, Neel Mukherjee, Varsha Adalja
Chair: Kishwar Desai
Venue: British Library, Conference Centre, Main Auditorium
MONDAY 20 APRIL 9:30-10:30, LBF
The Chairman’s Breakfast
Nobel Prize winning writer, economist and philosopher Amartya Sen, will give the keynote speech entitled “India in the Modern World” at the prestigious Chairman’s Breakfast. By invitation only.
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 12.30-13.30, LBF
Home and the world
The seminar explores Indian writing abroad, writers who, by birth or choice, live elsewhere but in whose writing India is a recurrent theme.
Panelists: Daljit Nagra, Jaishree Mishra, Neel Mukherjee, William Dalrymple,
Anita Nair
Chair: Supriya Chaudhuri
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 13.00-13.30, Lit. Café, LBF
Writers: Girish Karnad, UR Ananthamurthy
Interviewer: Maya Jaggi
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 14.00-15.00, LBF
Literature of identity
What is it to be Indian is a critical question that is more relevant than ever before. India’s diversity, its contradictions, its many constituents and stakeholders has given rise to a body of writing that is bold and challenging, scrutinising ideas that the rest of the world takes for granted.
Panelists: YD Thongchi, Namdeo Dhasal, Balchandra Namade, Jiwan Namdung, Salma
Chair: Dai Smith, Chair, Arts Council of Wales
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 14.30, Nehru Centre
Found in Translation
This presentation of literary translation and cross-cultural exchange is the outcome of week-long translation retreat in India, co-ordinated by Writer’s Chain, involving UK and Indian authors, working with over a dozen languages between them.
Panelists: Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Uday Narayan Singh, Mererid Hopwood, Mathew Hollis
Chair: Francesca Rhydderch
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 15.00-15.30, Lit. Café, LBF
Writers: K Satchidanandan, Amit Chaudhuri
Interviewer: Rosie Blau, Financial Times Books Editor
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 18.30, Foyles Charing Cross Road
First Books
An evening of firsts : first-time Indian novelists speaking for the first time in the UK.
Panellists : Anuja Chauhan, Amruta Patil, Soumya Bhattacharya, Jiwan Namdung
Chair: Nikita Lalwani
Venue: The Gallery, Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 18.45-20.00, RSA (in association with Penguin UK)
The Many Avatars of the Indian Creative Mind
Is multiplicity a particularly Indian trait? A panel of distinguished speakers will discuss this intriguing question.
Writers: Amartya Sen, Nandan Nilekeni, Vikram Seth, Ramchandra Guha
Chair: David Davidar
MONDAY 20 APRIL, 19.30-21.30, British Library
Travel Writing
Does travel count, or is it a mere extension of been-there-done-that t-shirt trivia? What is it about travel that stirs the best and worst in writers? Is there something about the outside-in perspective that is disturbing and unsettling or is that viewpoint all that matters? How has blogging, with the accessibility it creates for amateur travel writers, affected the genre? Writers, journalists and critics discuss writing that deals with that primal human instinct to move from one place to another.
Panellists: Anita Nair, V P Tiwari, William Dalrymple, Michael Wood
Chair: Martin Buckley
Venue: British Library, Conference Centre, Main Auditorium
TUESDAY 21 APRIL, LBF
Author of the Day
Vikram Seth, award-winning novelist and poet, will be Author of the Day at the London Book Fair.
TUESDAY 21 APRIL, 09.30-10.30, LBF
Literature of the cinema
India has the largest film industry in the world, both in terms of number of films produced and also in terms of box-office sales. As a result, a significant corpus of Indian writing revolves around films. We present some of India’s best loved and critically acclaimed writers who write for, on and about cinema in India.
Panellists: Javed Akhtar, Prasoon Joshi, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Bolwar M Kunhi
Chair: Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, SOAS
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames room
TUESDAY 21 APRIL, 11.00-12.00, LBF
India translated
India is one of the very few countries in the world that has two different names on its postage stamps and currency – “India” in English and “Bharat” in Hindi. With its 28 recognised languages and 10 scripts, translation is one of the most challenging yet promising areas of literary activity as well as publishing in India. This seminar looks at the complex issues around translation in India.
Panellists: Udaya Narayana Singh, Satish Alekar, Harish Narang, Gopi Chand Narang, Vishwanath Prasad Tewari
Chair: William Radice
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames room
TUESDAY 21 APRIL, 11.30-12.00, Lit. Café, LBF
Writer: Tarun Tejpal
Interviewer: Clair Fox, Institute of Ideas
TUESDAY 21 APRIL, 12.30-13.30, LBF
Imagining India: the world of fiction
This seminar looks at the state of fiction in India now, bringing together authors writing in English as well as other languages.
Panellists: Vikram Seth (Author of the Day), Sunil Gangopadhyay,
UR Ananthamurthy, Prayag Shukla, Varsha Adalja
Chair: Ian Jack
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames room
TUESDAY 21 APRIL ,14.00-15.00, LBF
Battle for the Indian reader
Are Indians reading right? Is the future of the book secure in India? What are successful reader-development and retail initiatives from India? Critics, journalists, academics, literature festival directors – arbiters of taste – join issue with publishers to ponder the questions.
Panellists: Indrajit Hazra, Chiranjib Basu, Antara Dev Sen, Jeet Thayil, Peter Florence
Chair: Namita Gokhale
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Wellington Rooms
TUESDAY 21 APRIL 15:30-16:00, Lit. Café, LBF
Writer: William Dalrymple
Interviewer: TBC
TUESDAY 21 APRIL , 16.00-17.00, LBF
India writes
In this seminar we continue with the presentation of the state of writing in India now, as outlined in the first seminar, reflecting diversity, and bringing together authors writing in Indian languages and English.
Panellists: Amit Chaudhuri, Mamang Dai, Sutinder Singh Noor, Girish Karnad,Kynpham Singh Nongkynrih
Chair: Aamer Hussein
Venue:Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
TUESDAY 21 APRIL , 17.00-18.00, LBF
Literature of conflict
As sub-national identities increasingly clamour for more voice on the national stage, conflict, whether orchestrated or spontaneous, sustained or sporadic, is emerging as one of India’s biggest concerns. Here we look at literature on or arising out of that violence that is corroding the idea of India.
Panellists: Sudeep Chakrabarti, Shafi Shauq, Soumya Bhattacharya, Tarun Tejpal, Temsula Ao
Chair: Glenn Patterson
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL, 09.30-10.30, LBF
Literature of ideas
We bring a selection of non-fiction writers on industry, sports, memorabilia and ideas.
Panellists: Pavan Varma, Nandan Nilekeni, Ramchandra Guha, Suketu Mehta, Michael Wood
Chair: Nicholas Spice
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL, 10.00, LBF
The UKYPE and IYPE awards
International Young Publishing Entrepreneurs Award – Book Pitch
The International Young Publishing Entrepreneur (IYPE) award is a collaboration between the British Council and The London Book Fair (LBF). It was launched in 2004 to celebrate the entrepreneurial and leadership ability of a young person (aged between 25 and 35), working in the publishing sector in their own country.
Venue: Earls Court, Conference Centre, Meeting Rooms 1 and 2
FOLLOWED BY
International Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award – Award Ceremony
United Kingdom Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award – Award Ceremony
UKYPE highlights the contribution that entrepreneurs in the sector make to the development of the UK’s publishing industry, both through their championing of talented writers, biographers and academics and their understanding of the market. UKYPE recognises that only a strong, vibrant
and diverse UK industry can develop the local talent that the UK market demands.
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL 11.00-13.00
Book Launch at the House of Lords
Launch of Meghnad Desai’s book Dead on Time (HarperCollins India). By invitation only.
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL, 13.00-13.30, Lit. Café, LBF
Writers: Anita Nair, Javed Akhtar
Interviewer: Upamanyu Mukherjee
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL,14.00-15.00, LBF
Bestsellers and popular writing
Which authors are Indians reading in vast numbers and why? What genres sell and in what languages? This seminar attempts to answer some these questions and raise others in the process.
Panellists: Sankar, Amruta Patil, K Satchidanandan, Anuja Chauhan, Chetan Bhagat
Chair: VK Karthika
Venue: Earls Court One, Level 1, Thames Room
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL ,14.30-15.00, Lit. Café, LBF
Writer: Ramchandra Guha
Interviewer: Patrick French
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 13.00, Foyles Westfield
Author Reading
Poetry reading by the multifaceted Prasoon Joshi - writer, poet, lyricist and advertiser. This Indian author promises to cross boundaries and challenge pre-conceptions.
Venue: Foyles, Westfield Shopping Centre
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 18.30, Foyles Charing Cross Road
Publishing and Censorship in India
How does censorship affect the world of Indian writing and publishing? Is censorship a necessary safeguard in a modern pluralist democracy like India?
Panellists: Jaishree Mishra, Girish Karnad, Namita Gokhale, Amruta Patil, Antara Dev Sen
Chair: David Goodhart, Editor, Prospect Magazine
Venue: The Gallery, Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 20.00, Stanfords Bookshop
Bookshop Barnie
Bookshop Barnies are salon type discussions that challenge the author to justify their work in front of an invited audience of specialists and critics.
Writer: Nandan Nilekani
Interviewer: Austin Williams
Venue: Stanfords bookshop, Covent Garden
In association with Future Cities Project
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 18.30, Nehru Centre
Everything to Declare: an evening of Indian poetry
Poets of the post-independence generation join newer talent to read from the breadth of poetry that is Indian verse.
Writers: K Satchidanandan, Daljit Nagra, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Salma, Saradha Soobrayen, Sridhar Rajeshwaran
Chair: Jeet Thayil
In association with Wasafiri Magazine
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PROGRAMME OF BRITISH COUNCIL PARTNER EVENTS
(Outside London)
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 17.00 (tbc), University of Warwick
Author Readings and Discussion
Writers: Mamang Dai, Balchandra Nemade, Supriya Chaudhuri
Chair: Rashmi Varma
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 18.00, Sampad South Asian Arts, Birmingham
Author Reading and Discussion
Writers: Prayag Shukla, Varsha Adalja, UR Ananthamurthy
Chair: TBC
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 18.00, Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh
Author Reading and Discussion
Writers: Meg Bateman, Udaya Narayana Singh, Vishwanath Prasad Tewari
Chair: TBC
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, 20.00, Arts Bengal, Birmingham
Author Reading and Discussion
Writer: Chiranjib Basu
Chair: TBC
THURSDAY 23 APRIL, time tbc, University of Reading
Author Reading and Discussion
Writers: Harish Narang, Suman Mukherjee
Chair: TBC
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 13.00, Millenium Centre, Cardiff
Author Readings and Discussion
Writers: Kynpham Singnongkynrih, Mererid Hopwood, Udaya Narayana Singh
Chair: tbc
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 13.00, Central Library, Manchester
Author Readings and Discussion
Writers: Shafi Shauq, YD Thongchi, Satish Alekar
Chair: TBC
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 13.00, Tameside Library, Manchester
Author Readings and Discussion
Writer: Varsha Adalja
Chair: TBC
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 18.00, Country Bookshop, Derbyshire
Author Readings and Discussion
Writers: Bolwar M Kunhi, Temsula Ao
Chair: TBC
FRIDAY 24 APRIL, 18.00, Bradford Library
Author Readings and Discussion
Writers: Harish Narang, Sutinder Singh Noor, Chiranjib Basu
Chair: TBC
LEAD-UP ACTIVITY
The launch
The launch of India ’09 was on 28 November 2008, with Mumbai still under siege by terrorists. Pavan K. Varma, Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, observed: “It is in times like this that we realize the power that literature has to heal.”
Publisher’s training
In November 2008, in partnership with The London Book Fair, we organised a training programme for 38 Indian publishers in who have taken up stalls at the Fair.
Book launches
In January 2009 we launched books in partnership with publishers. Tarun Tejpal’s The Story of My Assassins with Harper Collins India in Delhi and Neel Mukherjee’s Past Continuous with Picador India in Calcutta.
Writers’ Chain Literary Translation Workshop
Eight authors, working with over a dozen languages between them, were part of a Writers’ Chain translation workshop held at Neemrana in Rajasthan.
Jaipur Literature Festival
At the week-long Jaipur Literature Festival we held several programmes, including Writers' Chain: Found in Translation and Creative Entrepreneurs in Publishing.
Author engagements
Three UK authors, Hari Kunzru, Charles Nicholl and Nikita Lalwani, engaged with audiences in Delhi, Calcutta, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. We also offered ‘bursaries’ to six literature students who filed reports on their experience on the Jaipur Literature Festival website.
Scotland – Kolkata Connections
Scotland as Theme of Kolkata Book Fair 2009. This involved 52 events, a number involving writers and poets, led by Alexander McCall Smith, who inaugurated the world’s largest retail book fair.
Booklist – Of Glance and Lotus Hand: A Celebration of Indian Writing
In partnership with the Booksellers Association, we have a produced a booklist of 52 India titles celebrating the richness and diversity of Indian literature, available in printed and pdf. form.
