AAAN // Asian American Alumni Network// University Of Illinois

KRITI FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE SOUTH ASIAN AND

DIASPORA LITERATURE, JUNE 11-14, 2009, IN CHICAGO

FEATURING AUTHORS, SEMINARS, PERFORMANCES AND MORE

WHAT:

DesiLit presents the third Kriti Festival, a celebration of South Asian and diaspora literature and arts, to be held June 11-14, 2009, at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Roosevelt University. The four-day Kriti Festival is slated to include participant panels, author readings, writing workshops, publishing and marketing seminars, live performances, and question and answer sessions with literary agents and editors. Desi is a person of South Asian ancestry (living in South Asia or the South Asian diaspora), and kriti is pronounced "kree-thee." The second Kriti Festival was held in April 2007, and sample conference video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOBDKvKcsDs

The Kriti Festival guests of honor will be award-winning authors Romesh Gunesekera (Reef, Monkfish Moon, The Match), Amitava Kumar (Husband of a Fanatic, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb), and Bapsi Sidhwa (Cracking India, Water, The Crow-Eaters). Over 30 writers, editors, and other literary figures scheduled to participate include actor/writer/director Anjali Deshpande-Nadkarni, debut novelist Ru Freeman, journalist and memoirist Minal Hajratwala, grassroots non-profit Sarvodaya USA Executive Director Shishir Khanal, and author and Kriti Festival director Mary Anne Mohanraj. Participant bios and preliminary festival information is below - check www.desilit.org/kriti.php for updates. Other scheduled panelists include authors Shilpa Agarwal (Haunting Bombay), Vinita Agrawal (poetry), Nawaaz Ahmed (novellas), Tua Chaudhuri (writer, teacher), Nityanand Deckha (Shopping for Sabzi), Ashini J. Desai (poet), V.V. Ganeshananthan (Love Marriage), Farha Hasan (fiction), Fatima T. Husain (poetry), Tania James (Atlas of Unknowns), Sheba Karim (Skunk Girl), Kavitha Rajagopalan (Muslims of Metropolis), Rishi Reddi (Karma and Other Stories), Manisha Sharma (New River co-editor) Prema Srinivasan (Merging Waters), Ankur Thakkar (writer), Deepak Unnikrishnan (Bane, The Brined Brain of I), Sweta Srivastava Vikram (Pabulum), and actress Sonal Shah.

Rasaka Theatre Company will present an encore performance of "Yoni Ki Baat," a funny, heartfelt and thought-provoking monologue cycle, loosely inspired by Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues." By combining spoken word, music and dance, Rasaka presents an exploration of female sexuality, seen through the lens of diasporic culture. Like a chain letter passed through the theatrical community, Yoni Ki Baat features contributions from female writers across
the country, including six new monologues by local writers.

The Kriti Festival is co-sponsored by the MFA program at Roosevelt University, and the Asian American Resource and Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The guests of honor are supported by the Kiran Bavikatte Foundation. DesiLit is a Chicago-based organization founded in 2004 that works to build support for South Asian and diaspora writers by organizing readings, workshops, and local events, and by providing mentoring, networking, and professional development opportunities.

WHERE:

The Kriti Festival will be held at two locations, the University of Illinois at Chicago (Thursday-Friday, June 11-12), and at Roosevelt University (Saturday-Sunday, June 13-14). Both sites are wheelchair-accessible.

Roosevelt University: 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL (rooms TBA)

UIC: University Hall, 750 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL (rooms TBA)

REGISTRATION:

Registration is ongoing at www.desilit.org/kriti.php, info@desilit.org and 312-846-6878. Passes purchased from May 2-June 1 are $45/$20, from June 2-10 are $50/$25, and final rates at the door will be $60/$30. Certain events are limited to 200 participants. Festival registration is FREE for Roosevelt University and UIC students, faculty and staff, but must be registered early at info@desilit.org to reserve a spot. Free registration does not include any private meals with keynote speakers, or any workshops with separate charges; those events must be paid for separately.

The full weekend pass guarantees admission to all scheduled festival events (outlined below). Please note that this rate does not include any special meals with the guest of honor that may still be arranged, but it does ensure that pass holders be the first to be offered the opportunity to sign up for such special events.

DesiLit is a non-profit organization, and as such, offers sliding-scale admission to those with financial hardship. For those needing a discounted (or free) admission, e-mail requests to info@desilit.org

FYI UPDATE: The decades-old Sri Lankan civil war ended on May 18, 2009, with the surrender of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the death of their leader, Prabhakaran. Kriti has four major Sri Lankan diaspora authors attending: one of the guests of honor, Romesh Gunesekera (Monkfish Moon, Reef, The Match), along with Mary Anne Mohanraj (Bodies in Motion), V.V. Ganeshananthan (Love Marriage), and Ru Freeman (A Disobedient Girl). Mohanraj and Ganeshananthan are Tamils (members of the minority group the LTTE claimed to represent), Gunesekera and Freeman are Sinhala (members of the majority ethnic group heavily represented in the government that has won the war). More info at www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/ltte-leader-prabhakaran-reported-dead-as-tamil-tigers-surrender_100193834.html

SCHEDULE (subject to change, check www.desilit.org/kriti.php for updates):

Thursday, June 11, 2009

7-10 p.m. - Opening reception and rapid-fire reading (location TBA)

Friday, June 12, 2009
10 a.m.-5 p.m. - Panels and readings
5:30-6:15 p.m. - Bapsi Sidhwa reading and book signing
6:30-7:30 p.m. - Dinner break
7:30 - 10:30 p.m. - Performances (Ganz Hall)

Saturday, June 13, 2009
9-11 a.m. - Private brunch with guests of honor (separate registration, limited to 30 attendees)
9:30-11 a.m. - Writing workshops (beginner and intermediate)
11 a.m.-12 noon - Lunch break
12-12:45 p.m. - Romesh Gunesekera reading and book signing
1-2:15 p.m. - Keynote panel, "What's Not To Like?;" three writers discuss their likes (and maybe even

dislikes) on the subject of contemporary South Asian writing. Bapsi Sidhwa, Romesh Gunesekera, and Amitava Kumar will read from the writings of an author they admire; a moderator will then lead a brief discussion with the writers before opening the conversation to audience members.
2:30-3:15 p.m. - Amitava Kumar reading and book signing
3-6 p.m. - Panels and readings
6-7:30 p.m. - Dinner break
7:30-10:30 p.m. - Performances (Ganz Hall)

Sunday, June 14, 2009 (Flag Day)
9-10 a.m. - Writing workshops (intermediate)
10 a.m.-3 p.m. - Panels and readings

WHO:

Guests of Honor: Romesh Gunesekera, Amitava Kumar, Bapsi Sidhwa

Romesh Gunesekera's first novel Reef was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize and won a Premio Mondello Five Continents Award in Italy. He is also the author of The Sandglass, (winner of the inaugural BBC Asia Award) and Heaven's Edge which like his collection of stories, Monkfish Moon, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His fourth novel The Match was described by the Spectator as "effortlessly accomplished," and the Irish Times as a book that "shows why fiction is written-and read." His fiction has been translated into many languages from Norwegian to Chinese. His books are studied on university courses in a number of countries and Reef is a prescribed text in the new English Literature Advanced level syllabus in Britain. Gunesekera is an associate tutor on the graduate writing program at Goldsmiths College, University of London and has been a trustee of the Arvon Foundation (for creative writing). He has also been a writer-in-residence in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Denmark, among other places. His workshop in Greece was listed in the top ten summer activities for 2008 by the London Sunday Times. In 2004 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and in 2005 received a National Honour in Sri Lanka. Last year he was awarded the Jura Writer's Retreat by the Scottish Book Trust to spend time on the remote island on which George Orwell wrote 1984.

Amitava Kumar is a writer and journalist born in Ara, Bihar; he is the author of Husband of a Fanatic (The New Press, 2005 and Penguin-India, 2004; "Editor's Choice" book at the New York Times), Bombay-London-New York (Routledge and Penguin-India, 2002; on the list of "Books of the Year" in The New Statesman UK), and Passport Photos (University of California Press and Penguin-India, 2000; won an "Outstanding Book of the Year" award from the Myers Program for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America). He has also written a book of poems, No Tears for the N.R.I. (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1996). The novel Home Products was published in early 2007 by Picador-India. His forthcoming book, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb, is a writer's report on the global war on terror. His novel Home Products was short-listed for India's premier literary prize, the Crossword Book Award. Kumar's nonfiction and poetry has been published in The Nation, Harper's, Kenyon Review, New Statesman, Boston Review, Transition, American Prospect, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Toronto Review, Colorlines, Biblio, Outlook, Frontline, India Today, The Hindu, Himal, Herald, The Friday Times, The Times of India and a variety of other venues. He is the script writer and narrator of the prize-winning documentary film, Pure Chutney (1997), and also the more recent Dirty Laundry (2005).

Bapsi Sidhwa was raised in Lahore, Pakistan. Her five novels Water, An American Brat, Cracking India, The Bride, and The Crow Eaters have been translated and published in several languages. Her anthology City of Sin and Splendour [aka] Beloved City: Writings on Lahore was published in 2006. Among her many honors Sidhwa received the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writer's Award, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest national honor in the arts, and the LiBeraturepreis in Germany and the 2007 Primo Mondello Award in Italy. Cracking India (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Quality Paperback Book Club selection), was made into the film Earth by Canadian director Deepa Mehta. Her latest novel Water is based on Mehta's film of the same name. Sidhwa's play An American Brat was produced by Stages Repertory Theater, Houston, in March 2007, playing to full houses and receiving critical acclaim. Her Sock'em with Honey ran in London in 2003.

Other Panelists:

Anjali Deshpande-Nadkarni is an Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department at Bucknell University.

Ru Freeman was born into a family of writers and many boys in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After a year of informal study at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, she arrived in the United States with a Parker ink pen and a box of Staedler pencils to attend Bates College in Maine. She completed her Masters in Labor Relations at the University of Colombo, and worked in the field of American and international humanitarian assistance and workers' rights. Her political writing has appeared in English and in translation. Her creative work has appeared or is forthcoming in Guernica, Story Quarterly, Crab Orchard Review, WriteCorner Press, Kaduwa and elsewhere. Her debut novel A Disobedient Girl will also be published in Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese and Hebrew. She calls both Sri Lanka and America home and writes about the people and countries underneath her skin.

Minal Hajratwala is a writer, performer, poet, and queer activist based in San Francisco, where she was born before being whisked off to be raised in New Zealand and suburban Michigan. She spent seven years researching and writing Leaving India, traveling the world to interview more than 75 members of her extended family. As a journalist, she worked at the San Jose Mercury News for eight years, and was a National Arts Journalism Program fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of journalism. She is a graduate of Stanford University.

Shisir Khanal is executive director of Sarvodaya USA, a Madison, Wisconsin, based non-profit organization, which supports programs in Nepal and Sri Lanka through Sarvodaya Nepal in Nepal, and the Shramadana Movement (the largest grassroots development and peace movement in Sri Lanka). Supported 15,000 communities there, the Movement is considered one of the best community-based organizations in the world. Sarvodaya's outstanding tsunami relief work won the United Nations honor in 2005. A native of Nepal, Khanal graduated with a degree in Masters in International Public Affairs (MIPA) from La Follette School of Public Affairs in 2005.

Mary Anne Mohanraj is the author of Bodies in Motion, Sri Lankan-American linked stories (HarperCollins) and nine other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian-American Book Award and has been translated into six languages. She teaches creative writing, Asian American literature, and post-colonial literature at the University of Illinois, and has received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, a Neff Fellowship, a Steffenson-Canon Fellowship in the Humanities, and the Scowcroft Prize for Fiction. Mohanraj serves as Executive Director of both DesiLit (www.desilit.org), supporting South Asian and diaspora literature, and the Speculative Literature Foundation (www.speclit.org). In 2009, the Chicago Foundation for Women named her a leader in the Asian American creative arts.

# # #

Kriti Schedule - also at http://www.desilit.org/kriti.php

THURSDAY

7 - 10 p.m.
Opening Reception and Rapid-Fire Reading

FRIDAY

10:00 - 10:50

Bapsi Sidhwa Class Visit
Join Bapsi Sidwha in Mary Anne Mohanraj's introductory colonial /
post-colonial literature class for an hour of conversation about her
novel, Cracking India, in particular and post-colonial literature in
general. All are welcome! (Taft Hall, Room 207)

11:00 - 11:50

Writing Culturally-Specific Stories: The Authenticity Debate
What do you say if someone says to you, "You don't even live in South
Asia -- what makes you think you're authentic enough to be telling
this story? You don't know us!" When you write about a culture, do
you feel a responsibility to accurately represent the community? What
are your concerns? What do you do to help you in that process?
(Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level) (Prema
Srinivasan (m),Tania James, Tua Chaudhuri, Manisha Sharma, Kavitha
Rajagopalan)

Reading Slot:

12:00 - 12:50: Lunch Break

12:30 - 1:50
Film Screening: Sita Sings the Blues
Directed, written, produced, designed, and animated by Nina Paley.
Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India's epic the Ramayana
and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a fourteen-year
exile to a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri
Lanka. Despite remaining faithful to her husband, Sita is put through
many tests. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who
finds parallels in Sita's life when her husband - in India on a work
project - decides to break up their marriage and dump her via email.
Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets with Indian accents -
linking the popularity of the Ramayana from India all the way to the
Far East - narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this
beautifully animated interpretation of the epic. In her first feature
length film, Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to
create a highly entertaining yet moving vision of the Ramayana.
Musical numbers choreographed to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette
Hanshaw feature a cast of hundreds: flying monkeys, evil monsters,
gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. A tale of
truth, justice and a woman's cry for equal treatment. Sita Sings the
Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

1:00 - 1:50

Queer Issues in South Asian Literature (and Theatre/Film??)
Authors and readers consider the role of GLBT characters and queer
issues in South Asian literature, and discuss these stories' reception
in the South Asian community. Do we need an explicitly queer space?
What opportunities are there for publication / presentation? Is there
danger of being typecast? Has queerness become more acceptable now?
(Nawaaz Ahmed (m), Monica Mody, Mary Anne Mohanraj)
(Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level)

Reading Slot:

2:00 - 2:50

Workshop: Performance Tips for Writers
A workshop geared towards writers who want to read their work more
effectively, or maybe even memorize and go one step beyond just
reading. Actors and writers will work together on acting/performance
tricks (beyond 'make eye contact') such as grounding before
performing, sensing the energy of the audience, being energetically
open as a performer, vocal warmups/projection, etc. (Anita Chandwaney
(m), Sonal Shah, Minal Hajratwala, Rachna Vohra, Kavitha Rajagopalan)
(Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level)

Reading Slot:

3:00 - 3:50

Page to Stage
Is the distinction between 'spoken' and 'written' word relevant any
longer, given the growing numbers of writers on the performance
circuit? How do we take work from the page to live performance? What
are the pitfalls and richnesses of staging our work? Are there
different audiences for books vs. performance? Why perform rather than
publish, or vice versa? (This panel will cover performance poetry,
theatre, and film.) (Rachna Vohra (m), Bapsi Sidhwa, Anita
Chandwaney, Deepak Unnikrishnan)
(Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level)

Crossing Genre Boundaries
We've all seen the epic South Asian family novel, a sprawling tale of
marriage and politics and history and social conflict. What other
kinds of South Asian fiction is out there? Who are our science
fiction and fantasy writers, our mystery authors, our spy novels,
romances, and political thrillers? Writers discuss the challenges of
breaking out of the 'literary' ghetto as an ethnic writer, and
recommend favorite work in other genres. (Shilpa Agarwal (m), Farha
Hasan, Mary Anne Mohanraj)

Reading Slot:

4:00 - 4:50

Blowing Your Own Horn: Marketing Yourself as a Artist
With so many new writers emerging, it can be difficult setting
yourself apart from the crowd. Artists in a variety of genres discuss
methods for marketing themselves and their work, from setting up a web
page to hiring publicists and beyond. (Minal Hajratwala (m), Shilpa
Agarwal, Sonal Shah, Farha Hasan, Nitin Deckha, Rachna Vohra)

Reading Slot:

5:30 - 6:15 p.m.
Bapsi Sidhwa Reading and Booksigning (Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University)

6:30 - 7:30 p.m.: Dinner break

7:30 - 8:20
Dance Performances

8:30 - 11:30

Open Mic
Sign up at the door to read at an open mic -- all are welcome! 5
minute limit per performance!

SATURDAY

8:30 - 10:45

GOH Brunch
Private brunch with Guests of Honor; separate registration, limited
seating available.

Intermediate Writing Workshop
Participants sign up in advance and circulate manuscripts for small
group workshopping. Muffins, juice, coffee may be provided, no
guarantees (Nitin Deckha)

10:00 - 10:45

I Don't Want to Be a Doctor (Lawyer/Engineer/Mommy/Etc.) Anymore!
What do you do when you've succeeded in a South Asian-parent-approved
career -- and realize what you really want to do is be a writer or
other kind of artist/performer? Can you do a 180-career-wise? What
if you're a busy stay-at-home parent? Are there ways to incorporate
the arts into a busy work/family life? Those who have done it tell
their tales! (Shilpa Agarwal (m), Anjalee Deshpande-Nadkarni, Ashini
Desai, Shakuntala Rajagopal, Rishi Reddi, Nawaaz Ahmed)

Recommended Poetry
Maybe we should be reading poetry, but are we? Where should we find
it? In magazines? At readings or other events? Working poets share
work by their favorite contemporary South Asian poets, and tell you
about the poetry they love. (Sweta Vikram (m), Rachna Vohra, Prema
Srinivasan, Ashini Desai, Tua Chaudhuri)

Reading Slot:

11:00 - 11:45

KEYNOTE PANEL: "What's Not To Like?"
Three writers discuss their likes (and maybe even dislikes) on the
subject of contemporary South Asian writing. Our Guests of Honor
Bapsi Sidhwa, Romesh Gunesekera, and Amitava Kumar, will read from the
writings of an author they admire; a moderator will then lead a brief
discussion with the writers before opening the conversation to the
members of the audience. (Mary Anne Mohanraj (m), Bapsi Sidhwa, Romesh
Gunesekera, Amitava Kumar)

11:45 - 12:30

Keynote Reception (Ganz Hall Reception Room)

12:30 - 2:00

Yoni ki Baat
Rasaka Theatre Company presents an encore performance of Yoni Ki Baat,
a funny, heartfelt and thought-provoking monologue cycle, loosely
inspired by Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. By combining spoken
word, music and dance, Rasaka presents an exploration of female
sexuality, seen through the lens of diasporic culture. Like a chain
letter passed through the theatrical community, Yoni Ki Baat features
contributions from female writers across the country, including six
new monologues by local writers. Directed by Lavina Jadhwani,
featuring Anita Chandwaney, Minita Gandhi, Mouzam Makkar and Fawzia
Mirza. ($5 suggested donation at the door, Ganz Hall)

Beginner Writing Workshop
Designed to allow walk-ins to try some basic writing exercises, with
panelist supervision. (Minal Hajratwala (m), Prema Srinivasan, Nitin
Deckha)

2:00 - 2:50: Lunch Break

3:00 - 3:50

Amitava Kumar Reading + Booksigning (Ganz Hall)

3:00 - 4:20
Film Screening: Sita Sings the Blues
Directed, written, produced, designed, and animated by Nina Paley. --
Please see Friday for full description.

4:00 - 4:50

Politics and Writing: A Panel and Open Discussion
Writers discuss their goals in writing about politics. (Is any
writing not political?) Are they attempting to create change in the
world? What changes would they like to see? What have been the
visible effects of their work, if any? Should writers be political on
a large-scale? What are the inherent dangers of that work? A
facilitated open discussion of the ways in which writers engage
political issues in their work, and the ways in which readers respond
to those issues. (Moderated by Lakshmi Rengarajan of SAPAC. Mary Anne
Mohanraj, Ru Freeman, Deepak Unnikrishnan, Manisha Sharma, V.V.
Ganeshananthan)

Dance Discussion Panel

Reading slot:

5:00 - 5:45

What If I Don't Want to Write About India?
Is it necessary to sound South Asian or tackle South Asian subjects?
What if the writer's identity is ambiguous, then what? Is it essential
to cultivate a audience when a writer's identity cannot be fractioned?
And what do the readers think when South Asian writers like Vikram
Seth write books like An Equal Music (about white musicians in
Europe), or when Anita Desai writes The Zigzag Way (set in Mexico)?
(Ankur Thakkar (m), Prema Srinivasan, Monica Mody, Sweta Vikram, Tua
Chaudhuri)

South Asian Diasporas and Indian Popular Cinema
(Ashvin Kini, Surbhi Malik)

Reading slot:

6:00 - 6:45

Selling Your First Book
Writers who have recently sold their first book tell us how they did
it, and what they learned in the process. Learn what to do, what not
to do -- and hear about a few great new books to watch out for! (Tania
James (m), Sheba Karim, Ru Freeman)

Fusion Music
What it means to be a fusion artist, discussing the different ways
popular artists have incorporated South Asian elements in their work
(IE MIA, Jay Z, Timbaland) to South Asian musicians from varied genres
that owe a debt to classical music (Karsh Kale, Goldspot, Kominas...)
(Ankur Thakkar)

7:00 - 8:00: Dinner Break

8:00 - 8:50

Dance performances

9:00 - 10:00

Mithya, the Indian Dramatics Group from UIUC, presents Chimeras, an
adaptation of Shashi Deshpande's short stories. This production, a
combination of dance and monologues, centers around three powerful
women from Indian mythology, Sita, Draupadi and Kunti. It makes us
step back and look at Mythology in ways perhaps never seen before.
This play attempts to peel away layers imposed by centuries of
repeated story-telling. Directed by: Anusha Sethuraman, Sibin Mohan.
Cast: Anusha Sethuraman, Anjali Menon and Sushmita Das. Choreography:
Anjali Menon. Music Compilation: Hardik Thakker. Production: Sibin
Mohan
8:00 - midnight

Music performances and dancing (Congress Lounge)

SUNDAY

8:30 - 10:50 a.m.

Intermediate Writing Workshop
Participants sign up in advance and circulate manuscripts for small
group workshopping. Muffins, juice, coffee may be provided, no
guarantees

10:00 - 10:50 a.m.

Nonfiction
To what extent are we willing to expose ourselves? Do we have the
right to expose the lives of our family and friends? Is the need to
tell a true story, to be honest, more important than the need to
consider the feelings of others? And what happens when you're not
sure you're remembering the story right to begin with? How much
freedom do you have to change the details and still call it
nonfiction? Writers discuss the challenges of writing nonfiction.
(Kavitha Rajagopalan (m), Sweta Vikram, V.V. Ganeshananthan)

Sex and the Word
In recent years, more and more South Asians have started writing
explicitly around sexuality. Mary Anne Mohanraj, Ginu Kamani, the
authors in Desilicious, the participants in Yoni ki Baat, and many
performance poets all explore the sexual arena. What are the
challenges of working with this material? What are the rewards? Are
you willing to read an erotic story? How about in public, on a bus or
train? Do you take the books off the shelves when your parents visit?
Authors and readers discuss the pleasures and problems of writing and
reading sex. (Deepak Unnikrishnan (m), Tua Chaudhuri, Mary Anne
Mohanraj)

Reading slot:

11:00 - 11:50 a.m.

Romesh Gunesekera Reading + Booksigning

12:00 - 12:50 p.m.

It's Easier to Pretend We're All Middle-Class
The White Tiger, Animal's People, even Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire's
skeletal base) all tap into the frustrated psyche of a battered people
desperate to conquer difficult odds. The writers have tapped into
something here that readers and audiences have responded to.What? Is
the writing of such characters activism or does it veer precariously
close to a quiet exoticism of the destitute by a privileged South
Asian writer? At the same time, authors like Hanif Kurieshi and
Monica Ali deal with middle class and working class English life from
an immigrant perspective, while Jhumpa Lahiri's characters live in a
financially comfortable, destined-for-the-professional world. How
visible are class issues in South Asian literature? Are comfortable
middle-class stories more likely to be published (and celebrated)? Do
immigrant upper-middle-class readers become uncomfortable when asked
to admit the existence of working-class South Asians? (Ankur Thakkur
(m), Deepak Unnikrishnan)

A Room of One's Own, and the Money for Rent
Artists and writers discuss residences, conferences, grants, awards,
competitions, and the various ways in which they find time and space
and money to facilitate creating their art. (Sheba Karim (m), V.V.
Ganeshananthan, Mary Anne Mohanraj)

Reading slot:

1:00 - 1:50 p.m.

MFA Programs in Writing
What are the advantages and disadvantages of enrolling in an MFA
Program in Writing? What about full-time versus part-time? How about
low-residency programs (where you work from home and only go away for
two weeks out of the year)? What will I learn, and where should I go?
Or will it just be a waste of time I should spend writing? Panelists
who have been there talk about MFA programs they have known… (Rishi
Reddi (m), Sheba Karim, Ankur Thakkur, Monica Mody, Nawaaz Ahmad,
Manisha Sharma)

Filmi Fusion
How do south asians feel about filmi fusion hitting some of the top
dance shows/movies on television? (ie: so you think you can dance,
high school musical etc) Is it insulting or is it rewarding?

Reading slot:

2:00 - 2:50 p.m.

Dead Dog Panel
Traditional festival recap -- the organizers invite you to come and
discuss how it all went, celebrate our achievements, socialize, and
give us your suggestions for future years.

2:00 - 3:20 p.m.
Film Screening: Sita Sings the Blues
Directed, written, produced, designed, and animated by Nina Paley.
Please see Friday for full description.

*****

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