 The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), the organization dedicated to celebrating and showcasing the arts in North America, announced today the lineup for its seventh annual Literary Festival on December 4-12, 2021, in New York. The inaugural event will feature an exclusive conversation between IAAC chairman, Dr. Nirmal Mattoo, and former Wall Street banker, 9/11 survivor and entrepreneur, Kushal Choksi on December 4 at 2:00 p.m. EST; followed by a chat between comedian, Dan Nainan and board member, Dharti Desai. The weeklong festival offers exclusive interviews, both in-person and virtual, with twenty leading authors and twelve distinguished poets; in total thirty-two writers, who have been celebrated as resounding voices of candor, honesty and determination within the literary world:Moderator Nitin Nohria will sit down with one of the world’s most powerful female executives, Indra Nooyi who will discuss her memoir My Life in Full (Portfolio), fresh off its release in September. Two of the featured titles: Karthika Nair and Marilyn Hacker’s collection of poetry Different Distance: A Renga (Milkweed Editions, December 2021); and Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen’s highly anticipated Home in the World: A Memoir (Liveright, January 2022); will be making their public debut prior to launch in December and January, respectively.Film director, Suman Ghosh, will discuss his new book Soumitra Chatterjee: A Film-Maker Remembers (Om Books International, December 2021), which is an intimate look at the life and works of the late cinematic legend, Soumitra Chatterjee. He will be discussing the Bengali actor’s impact on the film world with Aseem Chhabra on December 7.Indian parliament member, Jairam Ramesh will sit down with Vishakha Desai to discuss his new book The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha (India Viking, November 2021). |
| “Following a tumultuous twenty months, readers across the globe are genuinely looking to reconnect on a deeper level,” said Dr. Nirmal Mattoo, IAAC Chairman. “The 2021 IAAC Literary Festival features writers who provide a raw glimpse into lives and personal points of view – both in their own experiences through memoirs and poetry as well as by introducing readers to vivid, relatable characters through which we can explore our shared humanity.” The IAAC will also host a live, in-person Poetry Panel curated by Dr. Ravi Shankar featuring internationally-renowned poets: Arundhati Subramaniam, Purvi Shah and Ralph Nazareth as well as Srinivas Mandavilli, Nandana Dev Sen and Yuyutsu Sharma. Later in the week, actor, director, comedian and author, Kal Penn, will discuss his critically acclaimed memoir You Can’t Be Serious (Gallery Books, November 2021) on December 12th at 6:00 p.m. EST. All in-person events will be held at DAG, Fuller Building, 41 E 57th St Suite 708, New York, NY 10022. Sudha Murthy, Kate McGovern and Veera Hiranandani, will join moderators Namrata Tripathi and Rajani LaRocca for Children’s Literary Day, a unique look at stories that feature Indo-American experiences from the perspective of children and young adults, on Saturday, December 11, 2021. Online events will be available on Facebook and YouTube; including Children’s Literary Day. There will also be an interactive Q&A portion during each event. |
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