Noam Chomsky, Bill Gates, Avni Doshi among speakers as Jaipur Lit Fest goes virtual
The coronavirus pandemic, racism and nationalism and, of course, books will be talked about at the 14th edition of the popular literature festival that will be held from February 19-28. February 13, 2021 / 08:43 AM IST
(From Left) Jaipur Literature Festival producer Sanjoy K Roy with co-directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple. (File image)
Instead of footfalls on the hallowed ground of the Diggi Palace, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) will be counting clicks on its website this year.
Dubbed the Kumbh Mela of literature , JLF kicks off next week in a virtual edition. The setting and atmospherics are going to be missed but the 14th edition of the festival has an impressive line-up of speakers from around the world to talk about books, the pandemic, racism and nationalism.
Novelist Avni Doshi: Had to battle my inner censor
Novelist Avni Doshi: Had to battle my inner censor
Last Updated: Thu, Feb 11th, 2021, 13:39:02hrs
Speaking to IANSlife ahead of her JLF session, in which she is in conversation with Janice Pariat to examine the roots of this compelling and raw narrative and unravel its questions of identity, love and trauma, the Dubai-based writer delves deep into the making of her book.
Excerpts: Burnt Sugar , your Booker-nominated debut, was written over several years. How close was the final manuscript to the first thought in your head?
Doshi: The novel was written over seven years. I wrote many drafts of the book, and each one was very different than the one before. Sometimes, if I think back over every iteration of the story, I feel I have written seven different novels. At the beginning, the novel was centred around an ashram in an unnamed town. The narrator also was nameless a nameless, little girl. I was afraid, I think, of naming t
INDIA New England News
By Siddhi Jain
New Delhi– Indian-origin novelist and Booker Prize nominee Avni Doshi, who is a speaker at the upcoming Jaipur Literature Festival, says that she had to abandon many preconceived notions while writing the drafts of her debut novel ‘Burnt Sugar’ (published as ‘The Girl in White Cotton’ in India).
Speaking to IANSlife ahead of her JLF session, in which she is in conversation with Janice Pariat to examine the roots of this compelling and raw narrative and unravel its questions of identity, love and trauma, the Dubai-based writer delves deep into the making of her book.
Burnt Sugar when her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It was a really big shock for me,” the Indian-American author, who now lives in Dubai, said. “I felt like all these things that had preoccupied me for years and years were sort of coming alive in my real life.”
Memory is a central theme in Doshi’s book. Her main character, Antara, tries to reconcile the fact that her mother is developing dementia, thus forgetting all the ways she has neglected and mistreated her.
Though it was difficult watching her grandmother suffer with Alzheimer’s, there was also a “strange literary potential” in the disease, said Doshi, who gave a talk at the Jameel Arts Centre on Friday, the inaugural day of the 2021 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
18 book covers in Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize longlist
By
Siddhi Jain ( IANS) |
Published on
Sun, Jan 24 2021 13:57 IST |
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New Delhi, Jan 24 : The Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize has announced its longlist for the sixth edition at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2021.
The nominated books in the longlist include: Sarojini s Mother; Magical Woman; Girl in White Cotton; Women of Prey; Calcutta Nights; The Courtesan, The Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin; One hell of a lover; The CEO Factory; Gun Island; Bein Gandhi; Two Plays; Suralakshmi Villa; The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia; Afsaane; Dastaan-e-Mughal-e-Azam; MOOM; White as Milk and Rice and The Amils of Sindh.