The South Asian Literary and Theatre Arts Festival
The South Asian Literary and Theatre Arts Festival is this Saturday (November 15th), from 10 AM to 5 PM. This is one of my favorite events in Washington and I know it will be of interest to many English majors. In addition, Professor Supriya Goswami from GW’s English Department will be moderating one of the festival’s panels.
Here is the official description of the event from the SALTAF planning committee:
SALTAF returns anew, marking the fifth year that the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program joins forces with the Washington, DC chapter of the Network of South Asian Professionals (NetSAP-DC) to bring you another memorable event.
The SALTAF Committee is thrilled to announce four confirmed literary stars:
Tahmima Anam, whose incredible debut, A Golden Age, about one woman’s remarkable experiences in the 1971 Bangladesh War, won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Overall Best First Book;
V.V. Ganeshananthan, another fiction newbie with a critically acclaimed debut, Love Marriage, about a globe-scattered Sri Lankan family;
Naeem Murr, whose latest novel, The Perfect Man, a coming-of-age story about an Indian-born, London-raised young man, was last year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Europe and South Asia for Best Book, as well as a 2006 Booker long-lister; and
Manil Suri, whose highly anticipated follow-up, The Age of Shiva, to his critically acclaimed award-winning debut, The Death of Vishnu, appeared earlier this year to much praise;
For the film devotees, Richie Mehta, arrives with his award-winning feature, AMAL, which began as a short film based on a story written by his brother, Shaun Mehta. With a luminous cast that includes Naseeruddin Shah, Rupinder Nagra, and Seema Biswas, AMAL tells the poignant story of an auto-rickshaw driver who meets an eccentric billionaire searching for one last morsel of humanity in the streets of crowded, anonymous Delhi. Their fateful meeting will change both lives forever.
And after numerous previous attempts, we are finally getting the inimitable Sooni Taraporevala to the Smithsonian to screen her debut feature film, Little Zizou. Already world-renowned for her scripts for Mira Nair’s The Namesake, Mississippi Masala, and more, Taraporevala’s directorial debut features two Bombay families who both love and hate each other in this rambunctious family drama.
This will bea great event and I urge all of you to come check it out. More information is available at www.saltaf.org.
