The South Asian Women's Creative Collective celebrates it's 15th anniversary

The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the advancement, visibility, and development of emerging and established South Asian women artists and creative professionals by providing a physical and virtual space to profile their creative and intellectual work across disciplines.

They sustain a strong literature focus, which of course piques our interest.

They celebrate their 15^th anniversary this year and are calling for literary and visual art submissions. Their literary specifics: 

Literature:
We are interested in ‘zines, chapbooks, monographs, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, anthologies, etc. authored or edited by South Asian women. After the Queens Museum exhibition, these items will go into our archive.

Submissions - post:
- One physical copy of each title, must be submitted by author/editor of the work

We also invite original haiku, which may be inspired by SAWCC artists or may (loosely) fit the mission and work of SAWCC. Selected pieces will be printed on vinyl and presented on the walls of the exhibition.

Submissions - emailed as attachments:
- No more than 3 haiku pieces per person, submitted in a Word document

Out of Print Author Series: Chandrahas Choudhury

Out of Print author and friend, Chandrahas Choudhury’s Arzee the Dwarf is translated into German as Der Kleine Koenig von Bombay. Editor Samhita Arni’s review that appeared in Caravan in October 2009 heralded Arzee as ‘a welcome change in a literature that has, for the most part, been susceptible to reflecting the narrow, English-speaking world of its writers and many of its readers.’ Arzee’s adventures, real and imagined, dreamt and experienced resonate to the ‘beating and pulsing’ as the blurb says, of Bombay. At the height of his despair Arzee says, ‘I’ve lived so many lives already, I’ve seen incarnations! Now I’ll live another: I’ll be a new man. I was so miserable, so desperate, so abject! But now I am at peace, now I am strong, because I’ve left my make-believe life behind.’ But if we are uncertain if his soul has been stifled by his resolve, we know it is not so as, in front of Maratha Mandir cinema hall where Dilwale Dulhaniya still plays at the matinee, he reflects on ‘the miracle of art – it stayed evergreen, kept speaking and speaking to people.’ Will this incarnation of Arzee, stay true to his essential faith in the magic of make-believe and convey the great pulsing soul of his city to a German readership? We cannot wait to hear.  

Out of Print Author Series: Musharraf Ali Farooqi

As Aleph Books releases its first three covers to a flurry of excitement, we are thrilled to celebrate that Between Clay and Dust, a novel by Out of Print author, Musharraf Ali Farooqi is among them.

From the blurb:Ustad Ramzi was once the greatest wrestler in the land, famed for his enormous strength and unmatched technique. Young apprentices flocked to his akhara to learn his craft, fans adored him, and rival wrestling clans feared his resolve that would never admit defeat. The courtesan Gohar Jan was just as renowned. Celebrated throughout the country for her beauty and the power and melodiousness of her singing, her kotha was thronged by nobles, rich men, and infatuated admirers.

Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s new novel opens with a glimpse of these extraordinary characters in the twilight of their lives. Their skills are no longer what they once were, new challengers to their eminence have now arisen, their followers have melted away, and the adoring crowds are long gone. An immense catastrophe has laid waste to the country; its new inheritors and rulers have no time for the old ways and, stripped of their resources and their old powers, Ustad Ramzi and Gohar Jan must face their greatest challenge yet…

Powerful and haunting, Between Clay and Dust is a triumph of storytelling and a poignant exploration of love, honour, redemption and the strength that great souls find to go on when everything is lost." 

Naseeruddin Shah says of the novel: A privileged peek into the mind of the Pahalwan and Courtesan, the subcontinent's most intriguing symbols of romance. Storytelling at its best.

Out of Print Author Series: Anjum Hasan

We at Out of Print have pre-ordered and look forward with eagerness to reading Out of Print author and friend, Anjum Hasan's new collection of short fiction, Difficult Pleasures from the Penguin, Viking imprint.


From the Blurb: Wry, tender, borderline surreal,  Difficult Pleasures is a collection of stories about the need to escape and the longing to belong. 


Anjum, commenting on reading and writing short stories says, A collection of stories is not a novel in disguise. And a short story is not an equation. There is always something left over at the end of a modern story—in the reader, the desire to know more, perhaps, or the feeling that something inexpressible has been communicated. I like that idea—that in writing a story one is writing nothing more, but also nothing less, than ‘just’ a story.

Indo-Norwegian Fiction Writing Competition

Hello friends of Out of Print. Do you remember that Indo-Norwegian fiction writing contest, In Your Shoes where the idea is to transplant yourself, if you are Indian, into Norway and vice versa.

Well, here are more details on the same. Project coordinator Mira Beckestrøm Laurantzon sent us these great posters in English and Hindi. Why a Hindi Poster, you ask. 


Well, as I understand, entries are in Norwegian or English but winners will ultimately be 
translated into Hindi as well.

Junoon Theatre

Waiting to figure out the exciting ways in which Out of Print will be part of this cool new platform for the arts:
Check out JUNOON an amazing new effort by Sanjana Kapoor and Sameera Iyengar to create multiple platforms to access, engage with and enjoy theatre and the related arts.
  
Here is what Sanjana and Sameera say:

Greetings from Junoon!

We have an audacious idea. We believe that the arts need to be an integral part of our world. And we believe that together we can make this happen. And so we've created Junoon.

As Junoon, we will create multiple platforms where you can access, engage with, and enjoy theatre and the related arts. Over the year, we will unravel a calendar of interactions and engagements to delight us all. A lot of this will initially happen in Mumbai, but soon spread to different parts of the country. That's our dream. We invite you to join us -- to participate, to help us spread the word, to celebrate the joy of theatre.

Engaging children and youth is key to the world that Junoon wants to build. Our ARTS AT PLAY programme will offer youngsters a series of delicious engagements with the arts over the year.

We begin with our summer season of workshops and plays -- which some of you have previously known as Summertime with Prithvi Theatre. This programme was started by Sanjna 22 years ago to bring the strength of theatre to youngsters. This programme will now be run under the banner of Junoon's ARTS AT PLAY -- keeping the original vision, and building on our existing team of super conductors.

This year, we are delighted to offer 45 workshops across 5 venues in Mumbai and a season of plays -- 49 shows of 18 plays -- at Prithvi Theatre. This will run from mid-April to early June -- details are up on our site, and forms will be available, as usual from 1st April.

Do visit our website www.junoontheatre.org -- to know more about our dreams and plans, and to get details of ARTS AT PLAY. And if you share our dream, get involved, come for our programmes, spread the word -- and help us infuse the arts into our lives.

With warm regards,
Sanjna & Sameera