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Posts by elysdir

Arisa White writes ‘Post Pardon’ based on poet Reetika Vazirani’s life and death.

I was living in California the first time I heard about  poet Reetika Vazirani. I mention where I was living because this woman I did not know is one of my strongest memories of living in a State/place I grew to love despite the few months I was able to call California home. The reason which  I first heard about Vazirani was less than stellar. She had committed suicide and, what seemed, impossibly, even worse,  she had also killed her two year old son. My elder son was, at the time,  two and a half years old, and, don’t we all suffer dark nights, and yet, we fall asleep and wake up ready to give a new day a fresh chance. I could not get her son out of my mind. That night I wrote a story about such an incident but I did not try to get it published for some  words you need to bare your heart of just for yourself. But, since that day over a daceade ago,  I do think back to that woman and her son and wonder what happened? What happened?

Poet Arisa White  is trying to answer exactly that in Post Pardon, a series of poems loosely based on Vazirani’s death. White had met Vazirini and her son, Jehan, and she was also a student of Jehan’s father, Pultizer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa.  White says:

“Post Pardon is an investigation of that why; it is an effort to occupy the mindset of a person who would commit an act of murder-suicide, in such a way where reason is not given, judgment is not passed, or excuses are formulated. The series of poems is a chorus of voices speaking from the interiority of a woman who contemplates life: the taking of her own and that of her only child.”

To peer into what may have lain in Vazirani’s heart, Arisa White uses the strategies of  Irish poets  Medbh McGuckian and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. White was drawn to  McGuckian’s ablity to imagine and create worlds of her own and Dhomhnaill gaze into the  spaces between sanity and insanity. White is also writing an opera based on Post Pardon.

thanks to Minal Hajratwala for the tip on Post Pardon: the Opera. You can see the kickstarter Post Pardon trailer here.

Kriti Festival 2014 Call for Submissions

Deadline June 30

Kriti Festival of Arts and Literature Call for Submissions
September 25 – 28, 2014
University of Illinois at Chicago

DesiLit is pleased to welcome submissions to its upcoming festival of arts and literature, to be held in Chicago, Sepember 25 – 28, 2014.

Submissions are welcome in the following areas:

  • literature (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama)
  • film
  • music
  • dance
  • visual arts

If your work is selected, you’ll be invited to serve on panels and/or give a reading/screen a film/give a performance/etc. Panelists will receive free festival registration, and if there are funds remaining after expenses, a share of the proceeds towards reimbursing their travel expenses. We’ll also do our best to match you with local volunteer hosts if desired.

To have your work considered please send an electronic sample to submissions@kritifestival.org with the subject line: KRITI SUB [title of work / your name], following these guidelines:

  • a brief bio, PLUS one of the following
  • literature sample (up to 20 pages)
  • film sample (up to 20 minutes; if you want to send a longer film, be aware that we may only view the first 20 minutes)
  • music sample (up to 20 minutes)
  • dance sample (up to 20 minutes)
  • image sample (up to 5 images)

For large sound/graphic files, we STRONGLY prefer that you host the work on your own site and send us a pointer to the URL, or submit via Google Drive or Dropbox. If you wish to submit in multiple genres, please submit each sample separately.

For a sample of our 2005, 2007, and 2009 panelists, please visit http://desilit.org/kriti.php. If you have any questions, please contact info@kritifestival.org.

DEADLINE: June 30, 2014

Cyrus Mistry awarded the 2014 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature

Cyrus Mistry (younger brother of Rohinton Mistry) wins the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his novel Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer, a love story set in the Bombay amongst a community of Parsi corpse bearers. Below is an excerpt of the beginning:

“‘Oi, Elchi, you bloody drunkard! Still lolling in bed?’

There was no sound more revolting or hateful to the ears than that voice which plucked me rudely from my garden of dreams.

I was under the bower of the giant banyan with Seppy. Of all our numerous hideouts in the forest, this was her favorite. But in that instant, when Buchia’s hideous falsetto impinged on my consciousness, she was gone.”

read more here

an interview with Cyrus Mistry

Manto’s ‘Bombay Stories’.

Saadat Hasan Manto  continues to gain attention for his realist fiction which, back in the day, earned him the reputation of a pornogpraher. Translated by Matt Reeck and Aftab Ahmed, Bombay Stories is a collection of short stories set in Bombay.  Two of my favorite stories are about Khushia the pimp who realizes that he’s a manly man and Sarita, the child prostitute who is about to get into big trouble with her mother by the story’s end.

Review by Suketu Mehta in the Sunday New York Times.

Saadat Hasan Manto has a good claim to be considered the greatest South Asian writer of the 20th century. In his work, written in Urdu, he incarnated the exuberance, the madness, the alcoholic delirium of his time, when the country he loved cleaved into two and set upon each other, brothers of all religions murdering their infant nephews and raping their sisters-in-law.

Manto is best known for his stories about the partition of the subcontinent immediately following independence in 1947. Although he wrote essays, screenplays and one novel, Manto’s métier was the short story; he published more than 20 collections. He was an Indian F. Scott Fitzgerald, moving from north India to Bombay to sell his talents to the movie industry, and dying at 42, after a long struggle with alcoholism. read full here

Salman Rushdie on Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez passed away on April 17th 2014. The world saw a great outpouring of memory: how his stories, novels, words had touched and transformed the lives of so many. Some he gave the courage to look a the world in a different way. Others learned the art of patience in love. And yet others found the courage to express themselves in new ways. Marquez will forever be lauded for his magic-realism. Salman Rushdie, in his obituary, reminds us that while we remember the magic in magic-realism, we must not forget that there is realism too.

from The Telegraph:

The trouble with the term “magic realism”, el realismo mágico, is that when people say or hear it they are really hearing or saying only half of it, “magic”, without paying attention to the other half, “realism”. But if magic realism were just magic, it wouldn’t matter. It would be mere whimsy – writing in which, because anything can happen, nothing has effect. It’s because the magic in magic realism has deep roots in the real, because it grows out of the real and illuminates it in beautiful and unexpected ways, that it works. Consider this famous passage from One Hundred Years of Solitude:

“As soon as José Arcadio closed the bedroom door the sound of a pistol shot echoed through the house. A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living-room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs… and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack 36 eggs to make bread.

‘Holy Mother of God!’ Úrsula shouted.”

Something utterly fantastic is happening here.

read rest here

Vijay Seshadri 2014 Pulitzer Winner for Poetry

Congratlations Vijay Seshadri!

from the The Times of India:

NEW YORK: India-born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his collection of poems “3 Sections.”

The 98th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced on Monday by Columbia University here.

Seshadri’s ‘3 Sections’ is a “compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless,” the announcement said. read rest here

 

All 2014 Pulitzer Winners here.

Desi, South Asians and the Rest of Them: A Talk

When:

Thursday, January 16, 6.30-8.30 pm

Columbia University Graduate Journalism School, Student Lounge Room

2950 Broadway, @ 116th St & Broadway, New York, NY

What:

South Asian Journalists Association, New York Chapter

presents “Desis, South Asians and the Rest of Them”

a talk by Kanak Mani Dixit, senior Nepali journalist

and moderated by Beena Sarwar, senior Pakistani journalist

Who:

Kanak Mani  Dixit

Kanak Mani Dixit is a journalist and civil rights activist based in Kathmandu, and editor of the Himal Southasian regional review magazine. He holds degrees in Law (Delhi University), International Relations and Journalism (both from Columbia University). Through the pages of Himal, Dixit has been part of the quest to define the Southasian space and identity. Beyond English- and Nepali-language journalism, he is involved with documentary festivals, spinal injury care, archiving, human rights, public transport and architectural preservation. Dixit is translator of BP Koirala’s Atmabrittanta and writer of stories for children. Having contributed to several Southasian anthologies, he is also author of the political commentaries, Dekheko Muluk (‘The Country I See’) and Peace Politics of Nepal.

 

Beena Sarwar

Beena Sarwar is a journalist, artist and documentary filmmaker working in the areas of media, gender, peace and human rights issues. She has extensive experience in television and print media in Pakistan and abroad, including editorially with Himal South Asian since its inception. She holds a MA in Television Documentary from Goldsmiths College, University of London and has an undergraduate degree in Studio Art & English Literature (Brown University). She has been a Nieman Fellow, a Research Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, and at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance, all three at Harvard University. She is the Jang Group’s Editor, Aman ki Asha, a peace initiative between the Jang Group of Newspapers, Pakistan and The Times of India. She has contributed to several South Asian and Indo-Pak anthologies and compilations. She blogs at Journeys to Democracy www.beenasarwar.wordpress.com. Twitter: @beenasarwar

Leila Seth and Vikram Seth: Mother to Son.

Leila Seth talks about  her son, Vikram Seth, going from being an upstanding citizen to a criminal.

“Vikram, is now a criminal , an unapprehended felon. This is because , like many millions of other Indians, he is gay; and last month, two judges of the Supreme Court overturned the judgment of two judges of the Delhi High Court that, four years ago, decriminalized homosexuality . Now, once again, if Vikram falls in love with another man, he will be committing a crime punishable by imprisonment for life if he expresses his love physically. The Supreme Court judgment means that he would have to be celibate for the rest of his life – or else leave the country where he was born, to which he belongs, and which he loves more than any other.” read rest here. 

Global Dialogues 2014 Contest for Young People

What is Global Dialogues? 

Established in 1997, Global Dialogues combines the creative genius of young people, the magic of cinema, and the power of the internet to cultivate positive social change.  The project helps communities better understand the obstacles and struggles faced by their youth, and in this way, helps to foster overall empathy, compassion, and unity within the entire community.

What’s the Global Dialogues contest all about?
Global Dialogues invites you to come up with an original idea for a short film about HIV/AIDS, sexuality, violence against women, or alcohol, drugs & sex. The best ideas will be turned into films by some of world’s greatest directors and young cinema talents. The Global Dialogues films, each proudly displaying the young authors’ names, are viewed by millions of people every year on TV and on the Internet. You can see the films they’ve produced so far athttp://www.youtube.com/globaldialogues

Who can participate?
The Global Dialogues contest is open to all young people worldwide who will be under the age of 25 on 31 March 2014.

(If you are older than that, you may participate by working in a team led by someone who is under 25.)

When’s the deadline?
All entries must be submitted by midnight GMT on 31 March 2014.

What are the contest prizes?
The contest entries will be examined by a series of juries. There will be 20 winners of the international contest. Each of these winners or winning teams will receive a cash prize of US$125, as well as the possibility of having a film based on their idea made and shown on TV and the Web. In addition, the top 3 winners or winning teams will receive special cash prizes:

Grand Prize: US$2,500
Second Place: US$1,250
Third Place: US$625

Winners of the international contest will receive their prizes on or before 31 July 2014 at the address they give on their Participant Questionnaire. Only one prize will be given to each winning team.

How to participate?

Topics: Your idea can be about any topic related to HIV/AIDS, sexuality, violence against women, or alcohol, drugs & sex. On the next page, you’ll find a list of suggested topics that you can use if you wish.

Story form and language: It’s up to you to decide what form your idea will take. Most participants in Global Dialogues contests write short stories, but you can also send in a video, a theatre play, a comic strip, a song, a poem.… Anything is possible as long as the text is in one of the official Global Dialogues languages: English, French, German, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Kiswahili, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. Length. If you write a story, it may be up to 10 pages long (maximum). Recorded songs or videos may not be longer than 10 minutes.

Resources: As you create your idea, please talk to organisations or individuals in your community who can provide you with good information on the contest issues, or visit credible sources of information online. You can take part alone or in a team.

For more info, get in touch with the Global Dialogues team on TwitterFacebook or on their Official Website.

Aamer Hussein on the Short Story and Why We Need to Talk About Them

Short stories and novels have traditionally always been set again one another as if one is better than the other; as in  all comparisons, this is far from the truth. It is also incorrect to think of short stories as mere ‘chapters’ of a novel. Short stories are complete worlds unto themselves.  The death knell of the short story, once heard at least fifty times a day, seems to have quelled over the past many years, I believe for two reasons 1) the rise of MFA programs where mostly short stories are work-shopped and so writers graduate with collections they seek to publish and 2) the increasing frequency with which short story collections are  short listed, and win, major awards.  I’m always trying to get people to read short stories especially those who say they have no time for fiction:  five, ten, fifteen pages– yes, you do have time!  A wonderful short story writer, the Pakistani Aamer Hussein talks about short stories and shares insights from writers Ben Okri and Hanan al-Shaykh and many more.

Stories are regularly taught to budding writers as the core element of their craft. But (Lydia) Davis and a handful of others, mostly in the U.S., are among the minority who remain devoted to practicing the form. Gone are the times when a Borges, or a Carver or a Paley ignored the novel with panache. Today it is often belated recognition with a literary prize, or a death, that sends us off to our shelves in search of forgotten volumes of short fiction. read rest here

Katha 2014 Short Story Competition

Deadline: March 30th, 2014 / $ 7 per submission

Katha Fiction Contest 2014

DESI FICTION CONTEST 2014

First Prize: $300 • Second Prize: $200 • Third Prize: $100 • Two Honorable Mentions

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

1. One submission per individual; $7 per submission. (Paid by check or paypal)

2. Submissions should consist of one short story or extract from a longer work up to 3,000 words in length.

3. Entries should be unpublished works and should not have won previous awards or contests.All entrants will be notified of the results by e-mail by June 30,2014. Winning entries will be considered forpublication in upcoming issues of India Currents and Khabar.

E-MAIL YOUR STORY as a Word File Attachment to: katha@indiacurrents.com

In the Word file, include only the title and the story itself.

How To Pay:

A Paypal account is required for online payment.

Log onto indiacurrents.com/katha to submit payment.

If you do not wish to pay by Paypal, you may send a personal check, cashier’s check or money order.

Please make checks payable to India Currents with Katha 2014 in the memo line and mail to:1885 Lundy Avenue, #220, San Jose, CA 95131.

How To Submit:

Write this statement: Here is my submission for Katha: Desi Fiction Contest 2014.

Title of Story:? Word Count:? Name:? Address:? Email Address:? Payment Method: (Check or Paypal)? Payment Transaction ID: (Check Number and Date or Paypal transaction code)

Brief Biographical Statement:(Include publication or award history if applicable)I warrant that I am the sole author of, and have exclusive rights to the enclosed material. I hereby release fullrights for the enclosed material or any segment or portion thereof to Katha and its sponsors, and authorizeKatha to use my name and work in any publicity or promotions for Katha. I also understand that if my storyis not shortlisted for publication by the Kathasponsors, the rights will revert back to me on March 30, 2015.—(your full name)

DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2014

Submissions not following the guidelines will be automatically disqualified from the contest.

Disqualified Entrants will not be notified.

Sponsors:

India Currents is a leading Indian-American monthly with features,reviews, opinion, analysis, and a detailed calendar of Indian events. For more information:(408) 324-0488

Khabar is the largest Indian American publication in the Southeast. For more information: (770) 451-7666 mailto:451-7666  editor@khabar.com

Literary Heroines Who Have Influenced Bangalore Writers

To celebrate  2014 International Women’s Day, The Hindu, asked women writers from Bangalore who their literary inspirations were. It was interesting to see that out of the six writers not a SINGLE writer mentions a heroine of South Asian origin while only two writers mention  colored heroines, Shikha Malaviya credits Janie from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God  and Anita Nair credits O’Lan from Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. Instead we have the usual influences: Emma Bovary, many Jane Austen characters, Scarlett O’ Hara. This of course implies that the reading material many of us, including myself, were exposed to while growing up was limited to British and American writers, and  that, for those of us who were most comfortable reading in English there were, at the time, few South Asian novels/stories either translated into English or written in English. Times have, of course, thankfully changed!! And hopefully newer writers will state not only the Western staples but also influences from within their own cultures.

Writers interviewed: Anita Nair, Shikha Malaviya, Andaleeb Wajeed, Anjum Hassan, Shashi Deshpande, Shinie Antony.

Hermione Granger to Annabeth Chase, Katnis Everdeen and Daenerys Targaryen may be the stars in today’s bestsellers, but names like Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Darcy ( Pride and Prejudice ) or Emma , Scarlett O’Hara ( Gone With The Wind ) or Emma Bovary ( Madame Bovary ) have endured over the years for their strength of character, whether as heroines or anti-heroines. Literature has always brought forth admirable women and, some for their beauty, some for their wit, some for their strength, some for the lessons they taught through their mistakes. But most of all, they are remembered for being who they were, and their writers, become as much heroes of their stories, remaining in the hearts of their readers.

read rest here