Professor Lindy Stiebel, project leader ofKZN Literary Tourism, will be participating in the Words on Water Literature Festival. The festival is being held on September 14 & 15 at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and is part of the larger Shared History event (www.sharedhistory.co.in). An array of leading Indian and South African personalities in the field of literature have been assembled and will take part in conversations around Indian Ocean literature. The visiting Indian authors are Amit Chaudhari, Arshia Sattar, Ramachandra Guha and Shobhaa De.
Amit Chaudhari is, according to the Guardian,`one of the leading novelists of his generation’. His latest book The Immortals is his 5th novel. He is also an internationally acclaimed essayist and musician. Among the prizes he has won are the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Encore Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Sahitya Akademi award. He is Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Arshia Sattar has a Ph.D from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Her translations from Sanskrit of tales from the Kathasaritsagara and the Valmiki Ramayana have been published by Penguin Books.
Ramachandra Guha is a historian and writer based in Bangalore. He is the author of India after Gandhi, which was chosen as the book of the year by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Outlook. In 2008, he was named in the list of one hundred most influential intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine.
Shobhaa De is one of India`s top best-selling authors. De gave a new definition to the mass market best seller with her breakthrough, bold and highly individualistic style that spoke a new language. Spouse the Truth about Marriage was considered a publishing phenomenon in India. Four of her titles viz Socialite Evenings, Starry Nights, Sultry Days, and Second Thoughts are course material at the University of London. De writes prolifically for Indian and international publications. Bollywood Nights was launched at the London Book Fair in 2007. Superstar India was published in 2009.
