Indian Writing

Email invitation from the PEN All-India Centre:

A reading from his novel, A Blind Man’s Map of Mumbai,
by VIVEK TANDON

Date: 30 July 2009 (Thursday)
Time: 6.15 pm
Place: Theosophy Hall (3rd floor), 40 New Marine Lines
Churchgate, Mumbai 400 020

Vivek Tandon is a writer who has worked in several genres. He is the author of a book of poems, Climbing the Spiral, and has written a play that was selected for Royal Court Theatre London’s prestigious International Residency Programme. His comic verse will soon appear in a Sahitya Akademi book of children’s verse. Tandon, who works as a creative consultant in advertising in Mumbai, is also an actor whose appearances on the Mumbai stage, especially in The Seagull, Once Upon a Tiger, Insulting the Audience, Karna, and Aftermath, have been warmly appreciated. For more on this author, please look up www.vivektandon.com.

A Blind Man’s Map of Mumbai is a thriller for readers of all ages above 10. It is a Scholastic India ‘Book of the Month’. The recovery of a diamond-encrusted, Mughal-era gold box draws together a blind street musician, a young schoolboy and a young policeman. But what the box is reputed to have contained is even more valuable, and there are dark forces that will stop at nothing to recover it. Contemporary problems and secrets from the past surface, as the unlikely allies grapple with a mystery that gets more twisted and murky as the narrative progresses. A world-famous art dealer, his snooty daughter, an influential MLA and an astrologer join Tandon’s diverse cast of characters. “Hafiz’s description of the city through his senses makes for enjoyable reading,” notes Time Out Mumbai. Tom Alter, writer, actor and sports enthusiast, says: “Tandon’s book delights even as it entices… shimmering with the tide of the Bombay sea, and shivering with sudden and most unexpected suspense… the climax is sudden and fraught.” One of the novel’s central themes is Mumbai’s role as a sanctuary for vastly different individuals and communities.

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Also 6 August 2009 (Thursday)
PEN@Theosophy Hall
Chandrahas Choudhury, reading from his novel, Arzee the Dwarf
Theosophy Hall, 6.15 pm

The winners of the Crossword Vodafone Book Awards 2008 have been announced.

This was the shortlist.

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The 2009 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize has issued a call for nominations.

Last year’s winner was Mohammed Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes.

• Entries may be in any genre: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction (travel writing, autobiography, biography, and narrative journalism), and drama.
• All authors from the subcontinent are eligible but their books must be published in India.
• The books must be in English or translated into English from an Indian language.
• Books that have been published elsewhere and have already won prizes are eligible, though less likely to win.
• Vanity press publications are ineligible.

A 3-member advisory board will shortlist 6 books published between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. This year, the board includes writers Anjum Hasan, Zac O’Yeah and poet Jeet Thayil. The shortlisted books will be sent to the 2009 panel of judges: novelist Rana Dasgupta, editor Mukund Padmanabhan and Professor Meenakshi Mukherji.

The winner will be announced in the second half of November and the prize presentation will take place in December 2009. The winner will receive a cash award of Rs One Lakh and a trophy.

The Shakti Bhatt Foundation is a non-profit trust set up by the late writer/editor’s family to keep her memory alive. It wishes to reward first-time authors of all ages.

For further information, contact shaktibhattprize@gmail.com.

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The Inaugural Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize
Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize
2009

Call for Entries

Entries are invited from young poets in India writing in English for the inaugural

Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize.

The Prize was instituted by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognize excellence in poetry written in English and is being administered jointly by the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. The prize consisting of a cash award of Rs.10, 000 and a citation will be presented annually at a literary event in Hyderabad in the month of October. The entries will be judged by a distinguished jury of poets and literary personalities.

Entries are invited from all Indian citizens between 20-40 years old and writing poetry in English.

Entries must include:

1. Five (5) different poems written by the applicant;
2. Evidence of age
3. Complete contact information (including phone numbers and email addresses)

Note: Please do not put your name on the poems to be submitted to the jury members.

Entries must reach:

Dr. Aparna Rayaprol
Convener, Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize
c/o Study in India Program
University of Hyderabad
Hyderabad 500046
rayaproltrust@gmail.com

Deadline: September 1, 2009

The winner will be announced latest by the first week of October and arrangements for the travel and accommodation for the person chosen for the award will be made by the Trust and the Department of English, University of Hyderabad.

The Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust was started in the year 2000 to perpetuate the memory of the poet and also promote Indian writing in English. Srinivas Rayaprol (1925-1998), the son of the famous Telugu poet Rayaprolu Subba Rao, is considered one of the significant personalities of the early Indian English Poetry in India. His three major volumes of poetry are Bones and Distances, Married Love and Other Poems, and Selected Poems, all published by Writers’ Workshop in Calcutta.