SCHEDULE AND WRITER BIOS
March 18, 6:30 p.m.:
Vivek Narayanan / Eliot Weinberger
March 19, 6:30 p.m.:
Vahni Capildeo / Joy Goswami
March 20, 6:00 p.m. (note earlier start time):
Anita Agnihotri / Xu Xi / Charu Nivedita
March 21, 6:30 p.m.:
Sharmistha Mohanty / Tomaz Salamun
Panels and Discussion Schedule
(Please note: panels are open to all, but *pre-registration is required*. Contact Ashwini Bhat -- here on facebook or at ashwinibhat00@yahoo.co.in -- for more details.)
The writers’ presentations will be staggered as below. Each writer will have about 10-15 minutes for a basic laying out of thoughts; this is meant only to provoke a more extended, open-ended discussion among all the participants.
For a note about the discussions from Almost Island editor Sharmistha Mohanty, see: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27661953 .
March 19, 10 a.m-1:00 p.m. : Sharmistha Mohanty, Tomaz Salamun, Vahni Capildeo
March 20, 10 a.m-1:00 p.m. : Vivek Narayanan, Eliot Weinberger, Charu Nivedita
March 21, 10 a.m.-1:00 p.m. : Xu Xi, Anita Agnihotri, Joy Goswami
There will also be a discussion with the invited audience on March 19, 2:30-4:00
Writer Biographies
XU XI is a fiction writer and essayist who pushes the borders of both, her fluidity a reflection of her life as a Hong Kong Chinese woman, born of Indonesian parents, writing in English. She is the author of seven books, including Overleaf Hong Kong, History's Fiction and The Unwalled City.
CHARU NIVEDITA was born and initially raised in rural Tamilnadu. He has four novels and many books of essays in Tamil. Zero Degree, his second novel, was published in English translation by Blaft Books in 2008. Deeply transgressive and radical in form and narrative structure, reminiscent of authors like William Burroughs or Kathy Acker, the book sent shock waves through the South Indian literary world (and became a huge success) when it first appeared in Tamil in 1998 and in Malayalam a year later.
JOY GOSWAMI is one of Bengal's foremost poets. He has created an original poetic idiom in the language and given new directions to contemporary Bengali poetry. He has more than 30 published books, including three volumes of compiled poems numbering close to a thousand, 12 novels, two of which are written in verse and 5 collections of essays. A book of poems in English translation by Sampurna Chattarji is to be published soon.
ANITA AGNIHOTRI is a poet and fiction writer who writes intensely and genuinely about the marginalized in rural India, among whom she has lived and worked. She writes in Bengali, but has published two books in English translation—Forest Interludes and The Awakening (both from Zubaan books).
VIVEK NARAYANAN'S first book of poems, Universal Beach, appeared in 2006. Publications in anthologies include: 60 Indian Poets (Penguin) and Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (W.W. Norton). He works at Sarai-CSDS and is Consulting Editor for Almost Island.
SHARMISTHA MOHANTY has published two novels, Book One and New Life, as well as a recent translation of Tagore's fiction, Broken Nest and Other Stories, for Tranquebar press. She is the founding Editor of Almost Island and the initiator of the Almost Island Dialogues.
March 18, 6:30 p.m.:
Vivek Narayanan / Eliot Weinberger
March 19, 6:30 p.m.:
Vahni Capildeo / Joy Goswami
March 20, 6:00 p.m. (note earlier start time):
Anita Agnihotri / Xu Xi / Charu Nivedita
March 21, 6:30 p.m.:
Sharmistha Mohanty / Tomaz Salamun
Panels and Discussion Schedule
(Please note: panels are open to all, but *pre-registration is required*. Contact Ashwini Bhat -- here on facebook or at ashwinibhat00@yahoo.co.in -- for more details.)
The writers’ presentations will be staggered as below. Each writer will have about 10-15 minutes for a basic laying out of thoughts; this is meant only to provoke a more extended, open-ended discussion among all the participants.
For a note about the discussions from Almost Island editor Sharmistha Mohanty, see: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27661953 .
March 19, 10 a.m-1:00 p.m. : Sharmistha Mohanty, Tomaz Salamun, Vahni Capildeo
March 20, 10 a.m-1:00 p.m. : Vivek Narayanan, Eliot Weinberger, Charu Nivedita
March 21, 10 a.m.-1:00 p.m. : Xu Xi, Anita Agnihotri, Joy Goswami
There will also be a discussion with the invited audience on March 19, 2:30-4:00
Writer Biographies
XU XI is a fiction writer and essayist who pushes the borders of both, her fluidity a reflection of her life as a Hong Kong Chinese woman, born of Indonesian parents, writing in English. She is the author of seven books, including Overleaf Hong Kong, History's Fiction and The Unwalled City.
CHARU NIVEDITA was born and initially raised in rural Tamilnadu. He has four novels and many books of essays in Tamil. Zero Degree, his second novel, was published in English translation by Blaft Books in 2008. Deeply transgressive and radical in form and narrative structure, reminiscent of authors like William Burroughs or Kathy Acker, the book sent shock waves through the South Indian literary world (and became a huge success) when it first appeared in Tamil in 1998 and in Malayalam a year later.
JOY GOSWAMI is one of Bengal's foremost poets. He has created an original poetic idiom in the language and given new directions to contemporary Bengali poetry. He has more than 30 published books, including three volumes of compiled poems numbering close to a thousand, 12 novels, two of which are written in verse and 5 collections of essays. A book of poems in English translation by Sampurna Chattarji is to be published soon.
ANITA AGNIHOTRI is a poet and fiction writer who writes intensely and genuinely about the marginalized in rural India, among whom she has lived and worked. She writes in Bengali, but has published two books in English translation—Forest Interludes and The Awakening (both from Zubaan books).
VIVEK NARAYANAN'S first book of poems, Universal Beach, appeared in 2006. Publications in anthologies include: 60 Indian Poets (Penguin) and Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (W.W. Norton). He works at Sarai-CSDS and is Consulting Editor for Almost Island.
SHARMISTHA MOHANTY has published two novels, Book One and New Life, as well as a recent translation of Tagore's fiction, Broken Nest and Other Stories, for Tranquebar press. She is the founding Editor of Almost Island and the initiator of the Almost Island Dialogues.
