This year, Lekhana 2013 will provide a special space where city’s writers will interact with each other and with readers.
The event which will be held from January 18 to 23 will have an intimate gathering of lovers of literature and books in an informal space. The theme for this year is ‘Writing for the Spoken Word’ with an emphasis on poetry, drama and oral histories.
Lekhana 2013 will feature a weekend of readings, conversations about literature, performances and workshops, including workshops for children and a book shop by Sankar’s The Book People with published works of all the participating authors at Lekhana this year.
In addition to the line up of writers from the city, Lekhana will also feature residents from Sangam House, giving readers the chance to encounter a select group writers from around the world.
Lekhana this year has something for everyone; from informal conversations under an umbrella to performances by acclaimed artists from India and abroad.
The scheduled events are as follows:
Launch of ‘ Wild Girls, Wicked Words’: A bilingual collection of selected poems by four Tamil women writers -- Kutti Revathi, Malathy Maitri, Salma and Sukirtharani.
The poems have been translated into English by award-winning translator Lakshmi Holmstrom.
Writing What the Body Tells You’: A pre- Lekhana workshop for writers conducted by Mumbai-based actor and educator Yuki Ellias.
Performance of ‘The Dog Logs’: A play by Christopher Johnson. Directed by Arundhati Raja. Performed by Vivek Madan, Deepika Arwind, Pritham Kumar, Darius Sunawala and Rebecca Spurgeon
Speaking in Tongues: A panel discussion on translating poetry with Lakshmi Holmstrom, Vanamala Vishwanatha, and Shankar Rajaraman. Moderated by Arshia Sattar
Song Lines: Do Words and Popular Music Get Along?’: A panel with Bruce Lee Mani of Thermal and a Quarter, Vasu Dixit of Swaratham and Radha Thomas of UNK and The Radha Thomas Ensemble and Poornachandra Tejaswi.
A Video Poetry Session
* The Not Working Project’: A discussion about oral history with Aakar Patel and DW Gibson
* An Afternoon of Short Fiction with Out of Print Magazine.
* ‘The Role of Dialogue in Short Fiction’: A panel discussion with Mahesh Rao, Nisha Susan and Shinie Anthony.
* ‘The Influence of Language on Dialogue’: A forum with Kuzhali Manickavel, Jahnavi Barua, Mahesh Natarajan, and George Mathen.
This session also includes a short fiction workshop conducted by Rebecca Lloyd.
Lekhana for kids:
* Timeless Tales -- An interactive, fun workshop on the Art of sharing stories. Facilitated by Gita Dasupta; and
* What if? -- An introductory writing workshop for children (ages 10 to 14) from the perspective of character development. Facilitated by Anshumani Ruddra
* Umbrella Café: an informal conversation between Arundhati Raja and Anita Nair, under an umbrellathe audience is invited to eavesdrop, interact and be part of the conversation.
* Reporting in India’: a panel with Amrita Shah, Jonathan Foreman and Suresh Menon. Moderated by Aakar Patel
* Talk by Asiya Siddique on ‘Jamshed Tata and the Jewels’
* Film Screening: ‘I am Micro’ by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel
* Mouthing Dialogue’: a panel on writing for the screen with Pawan Kumar. Chaitanya KM, and Pratibha Nandakumar.
* ‘Shipwrights, Wainwrights, and Plawrights’: a panel on play writing with Christopher Kloeble, Jawaid Danish and Abhishek Majumdar. Moderated by Gautam Raja
* ‘The Things People Say’: Dialogue for the stage with Sanjay Iyer, Kirtana Kumar, Arundhati Raja and Jagdish Raja.
* ‘Eve’s Lament’: A closing performance by Denise Kumani Gantt.