Indo-Norwegian Fiction Writing Competition

IN YOUR SHOES

Indo-Norwegian Fiction Writing Contest

Keep your eyes open for more details about this competition which seeks to challenge and explore perceptions we have of ‘The Other’.

What kind of notions do Norwegians have about India and Indians? And vice versa: how do Indians imagine Norway and Norwegians?

The contest will be announced both in Norway and in India, and participants will have to ‘write themselves into’ an Indian and a Norwegian context, respectively. 

The competition will result in an anthology consisting of between 12-20 pieces, one half written by Indian writers, the other half by Norwegians. The texts will be translated and presented in Hindi, English and Norwegian. Two winners, one from India and one from Norway will have a chance to travel to Norway and India, respectively.

                                                                                                                                       

Out of Print will let you know more as we hear from project coordinator Mira Beckstrøm Laurantzon.

Lekhana: Banglaore's Literary Weekend

Bangalore’s Literary Weekend, Lekhana, begins today, Friday 10^th February at the NGMA. With a programme that includes readings and discussions, talks and theatre, poetry and workshops in multiple languages, it promises to be an interesting three days.

Out of Print editors, Samhita Arni and Indira Chandrasekhar will read from their own work on Saturday afternoon, and will be involved in panel discussions on Saturday and Sunday. 

Out of Print authors at the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature was announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival last night. Prior to revealing that Shehan Karunatilaka’s Chinaman was the winner, the shortlisted authors read from their works, In the case of the novels in Kannada and Hindi, their translators followed the readings in the original text.

Two authors who’ve honoured Out of Print with their work, U R Anathamurthy with Apoorva and K R Usha with Sepia Tones were on that shortlist.  We are very proud.

‘Touch it, touch it, touch it,’ begins the passage that was read from Bharathipura, which addresses caste and untouchability. And in Kannada, read by Professor Ananthamurthy’s daughter, ‘Mutti, mutti, mutti.’

K R Usha read from her latest book, Monkey Man, paragraphs that set the tone of combined curiosity and anxiety that strike the fine citizens of Bangalore when a creature, squat and hairy and monstrous appears on their horizon.

Out of Print Author Series: Jahnavi Barua shortlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize

Brilliant news: Out of Print author, Jahnavi Barua’s novel, Rebirth is shortlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize. 

Jahnavi's delicate, yet powerful short story, Birdsong appeared in our March issue last year. Rebirth, about a young woman who moves between Guwahatti and Bangalore explores the complexities of marriage and relationship with the same sure touch we saw in Birdsong. The novel is among a significant collection of works shortlisted for the prize that are about rapidly changing life in diverse worlds.

Our Author Series celebrates the publications and other literary achievements of our authors.

Out of Print Author Series: script by Annie Zaidi in production

We are excited when Out of Print authors go on to other successes. Our Author Series celebrates their publications and other literary achievements.

In this post, we are pleased to announce that the script Jaal by Out of Print author, Annie Zaidi goes into production and will be in Mumbai, at Prithvi Theatre on January 19th and at the NCPA on the 28th. Annie has sent us a link to its intriguing teaser. Surely we need to see the play, know more.

For an author who professed in her interview on the Out of Print blog that her natural bent is towards non-fiction, Annie’s fiction is pretty intense and deeply expressed and dramatic. I, for one, am curious to see the play!

Happy 2012

It is the second day of 2012, and Out of Print is back at the desk, reading submissions and planning for the next issue. We already have some great possibilities lined up for March, and are excited about how it will all come together.

Wishing our readers and friends a year of brilliant stories and inspired writing.

the Editors

 

Out of Print 6

This December, Out of Print features 6 stories that explore the complex, multi-layered aspects of the region in ways that rise beyond the cultural context. Altaf Tyrewala’s Mischief in Netanagar is a chilling commentary on urban ennui, where the protagonist feels so disempowered that he comments, ‘To belong to the community, to the land or to the nation, a man must first be in possession of himself.’ Lucinda Nelson Dhavan’s Boys And Girls Together leads us through what happens when a refuge for battered women and a lodge for young men are next door to each other in a ‘middle-sized, middle-class, sleepy city’ in India. Dipika Mukherjee’s Patriots Of The Will, is a fictional rendition of the Indian National Army’s presence in what was then Malaya: a Bengali woman, a sweet maker, makes mishti and much more for Bose. Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla's tale reveals the fallibility of Lakhi Parshad, Member of Parliament and the wiliness of the human mind in negotiating survival. Drawing on her scientific background, and her theoretical perspective on the ways in which molecules interact, our editor, Indira Chandrasekhar, examines the thought processes of a girl who struggles to make sense of her family and her relationships in Lennard-Jones Potentials. In Tashan Mehta’s Erasure, which begins, ‘When I left home, I came back to find they had erased me,’ a young woman, desperate to find herself searches among her family and friends but learns that they no longer see her.  

A commissioned cover from Out of Print writer and friend, Vinayak Varma is a hand-drawn re-purposing of a frame from Amitabh Bachchan's 'MereAngane Mein' song. Read more about Vinayak's thoughts on this in our Editor’s Note.