Writer Namita Gokhale to visit Sri Lanka

Writer, publisher and festival director Namita Gokhale will be visiting Sri Lanka from 22 to 27 July to deliver lectures under Distinguished Visitors Programme of the India-Sri Lanka Foundation.

Gokhale is the author of seven works of fiction and several non-fiction books. Her novels include ‘Paro: Dreams of Passion,’ ‘Gods Graves and Grandmother,’ ‘A Himalayan Love Story,’ ‘The Book of Shadows,’ ‘Shakuntala: the Play of Memory,’ and ‘Priya in Incredible Indyaa,’ which resurrects some memorable characters from her debut novel Paro.  Her recent, much acclaimed collection of short stories, ‘The Habit of Love,’ was published in January, 2012.

Passionately committed to showcasing writing from across the Indian languages, Gokhale is the member-secretary of Indian Literature Abroad (ILA), an initiative of the Ministry of Culture to translate the 22 Indian languages.  She is a founder-director of the famous Jaipur Literature Festival (with William Dalrymple) and is also a director of Mountain Echoes: the Bhutan Literary Festival, and adviser to The Kathmandu Litarary Jatra and other literary initiatives.

The Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS), University of Colombo has organised a lecture titled ‘Many Languages One Literature’ by Gokhale at the Department of Sinhala Auditorium on Monday, 23 July at 11 a.m.  

Gokhale will also be visiting Kandy and deliver a lecture at the Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Assistant High Commission of India, Kandy on the theme ‘Readings and Dialogue’ on Tuesday, 24 July at 3 p.m.

A public lecture on the theme ‘Singular Pluralities – Perspectives on South Asian Literature’ will be held in association with the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) at the BCIS auditorium on Wednesday, 25 July at 6 p.m. Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation will be gracing the occasion as the Chief Guest.  

The India-Sri Lanka Foundation was established by a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of India and Sri Lanka in 1998 in order to foster India-Sri Lanka relations through the enhancement of economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation and to promote greater understanding between the people of the two countries.

All are welcome for the lectures. For any further information, please contact the India-Sri Lanka Foundation (Colombo Secretariat) on 112389924 or mail inquiries to [email protected]; Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) on 112698019, email: [email protected]; Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS) on 112591610 or the Indian Cultural Centre on 112684698.