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Lit Sutra
LIT SUTRA PROGRAMME BUILDS ON LEGACY OF LONDON BOOK FAIR – INDIA 09: THROUGH FRESH EYES
Lit Sutra: UK – India Literary Conversations, a programme of cultural relations through reading and writing, will build on the success of the British Council's festival of Indian writing at The London Book Fair 2009.
In association with The London Book Fair, 53 Indian writers representing 15 Indian languages, and their British counterparts, took part in the British Council’s India 09: Through Fresh Eyes cultural programme. This was the biggest festival of Indian writing ever held outside the subcontinent, taking place in nine cities across the UK. More than 90 Indian publishers exhibited at The London Book Fair’s Market Focus pavilion.
The Lit Sutra legacy work encompasses several different strands of activity in India : the introduction of English literature in to the classroom through the BritLit programme; a series of Creative Writing courses, beginning in Chennai in October 2009; an ongoing discussion of reader development and curriculum development in Indian schools and universities, with a view to these strategies being implemented in 2009 -2010; and a series of writer exchanges, which began with translation workshops in Kolkata and Delhi in August 2009 and continues with writer visits to India and Sri Lanka through the autumn and into spring 2010.
This activity will take place across India, at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and at Sri Lanka’s Galle Literary Festival, and writers confirmed include Ian Rankin, Jake Arnott, Tony Lee, Woodrow Phoenix, Sophie Hannah, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, China Mieville, Denise Mina, Mark Billingham, Andy Diggle, Geoff Dyer, and Shrabani Basu.
Activities and exchange included in the Lit Sutra programme include:
Literary Translation Skills Training
Between 6 and 12 September 2009, 38 young and aspiring translators from 21 cities across India representing 18 Indian languages and 3 European languages, took part in the Literary Translation Skills Training organised by British Council in partnership with Sahitya Akademi. The training was led by Prof Amanda Hopkinson, Director, British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia and Pratik Kanjilal, writer, translator and publisher of The Little Magazine.
Creative Writing Trainers Workshop
Starting with a one-week residential creative writing trainers’ workshop in Chennai from Tuesday, 3 to Saturday, 7 November 2009 for 15 Indian trainers, providing them with the skills and materials to deliver courses themselves at British Council centres. The participants are the first to join our Indo-UK online network of creative writing teaching professionals to exchange the latest ideas from India and the UK. Eminent novelist, playwright and critic Louise Doughty from the UK and author and academic Rimi B Chatterjee from India conducted the workshop.
Writer Exchange Programmes
We will support eminent contemporary British writers’ visit to India and hold a series of lectures, workshops and reading sessions across India. By introducing readers directly to writers and their books we aim to foster a very immediate and rich understanding of the UK and of British books and also stimulate informal networks with Indian authors, artists, academics and readers.The first three writers in this programme, Jake Arnott, Tony Lee and Woodrow Phoenix, completed a successful one week tour of Indian cities in the middle of November 2009.
Literature Festivals
We continue to be involved in literature festivals in UK and India by supporting writers’ participation in these festivals. We supported three academics from across India to attend The Cambridge International Seminar.in order to get an insight into contemporary British Literature. This year’s Edinburgh Book Festival saw eminent authors from India Bharati Ray, Rana Dasgupta and Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay create an indelible impact at the festival. The Jaipur Literature Festival and Galle Literary Festival will continue to invite eminent British writers to present their works at the subcontinent's premier literary showcases.
Susanna Nicklin, Director Literature at the British Council:
'The Anglo-Saxon world has a tendency to adopt and adapt vocabulary at will. Of the many beautiful words we have purloined from Indian languages 'sutra' is one of the most supple; we envisage it as a thread drawing together several strands of literature work to strengthen the cultural relations between our nations. Across the spectrum of reading and writing projects, from translation, to the English language classroom and the university lecture theatre, to live performance, creative writing and policy debate, we are spinning a silken skein of words and ideas, robust yet delicate. From its launch in Delhi in November 2008, through the highlight of the London Book Fair in April 2009 where Indian writers took centre stage, around India this winter and spring and back in the UK in April and August 2010, Lit Sutra weaves its magic bringing writers and readers in India and the UK under its spell.'
About the British Council
Marking 75 years in 2009, the British Council is the UK’s international cultural relations body. Last year the British Council engaged face to face with 13.2 million people and reached 221 million. The British Council is a non-political organisation, working in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through programmes which support intercultural dialogue, the UK’s creative and knowledge economies and help to tackle climate change.
