Friday April 3rd–Saturday, April 4th, 2015
Just as pioneering South Asian women define emerging literary mediums, these mediums also define us. Inspired by these movements, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) presents Emerge: New Mediums, New Voices, a two-day interdisciplinary literary festival featuring screenwriters, memoirists and journalists who challenge the boundaries and contexts of the written word.
Friday, April 3rd, 7-10pm |Beginning:
A Mixer with the Panelists and Speakers of the SAWCC Literary Festival
@ 2A Bar
25 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009
Join us at 2A bar for our kickoff mixer and meet the writers, panelists, and artists of this year’s literary festival!
Tickets: $7 at the door
Saturday, April 4 | Festival Talks
@ the Asian American Writers’ Workshop
110-112 West 27th Street, 6th Floor (btwn 6th and 7th Aves)
10am–12:45pm | Stories that Breathe:
Finding the Story that You Were Meant to Tell
Our stories unfold as we live them. Self-reflection through writing is a healing, cathartic process, and the sharing of personal experiences is often the inspiration for others’ transformation. In this memoir writing workshop led by actor and writer, Nadia Manzoor (Burq Off!, Shugs & Fats), we will explore how and why we tell our stories. Through improvisation, movement exercises, and creative writing, we will investigate our inner process and how it can crystallize into a story that can be shared with the world.
Limited spaces available, advance sign-up required. For more details on the workshop and to sign up, click here.
Suggested donation: $5
1–2:30pm | Voice Modulation:
Bringing Words Off the Page (Screenwriters’ Panel)
Playwright Rehana Mirza (Soldier X, Modern Day Arranged Marriage), screenwriter Afia Nathaniel (Dukhtar), and TV writer Lakshmi Sundaram (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) discuss how they write for different mediums and share their experiences transforming the written word to dramatization. The panelists will screen portions of their work and reflect on specific examples.
Panelists: Rehana Mirza, Afia Nathaniel, Lakshmi Sundaram
Moderator: Ambika Samarthya-Howard
Suggested donation: $5
3–4pm | Identity and Image:
Contextualizing our Experiences Online (Editorial Writers’ Panel)
Editorial writers Kavita Das (The Aerogram, NBCnews.com), Samhita Mukhopadhyay (Feministing, Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life), and Aarti Virani (Vogue India, WSJ) will discuss how their relationship to their South Asian identity affects their point of view on news events and their approach to writing opinion pieces and blog posts. How does one write true to the history and identity of a South Asian female without being boxed in by publications and audiences?
Panelists: Kavita Das, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Aarti Virani
Moderator: Aaliya Zaveri
Suggested donation: $5
4:30–6pm | Sex on Paper:
Emerging Sexual Identities (Novelists’ Panel)
Novelists Tanwi Nandini Islam (Bright Lines)Â and Mala Kumar (Paths of Marriage)Â discuss the shifting sexual identities of the characters they have written, reflecting on how sexuality is portrayed in South Asian literature. In this panel, actor Soraya Broukhim, will read sections of the authors’ works to frame the discussion. This will be followed by a moderated discussion and an audience Q+A.
Panelists: Tanwi Nandini Islam, Mala Kumar
Moderator: Ambika Samarthya-Howard
Suggested donation: $5
Saturday, April 4
7–9:30pm | Keynote: A Reading and Music Performance with Tanuja Desai Hidier
(accompanied by Atom Fellows)
@ Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street
New York, NY
Celebrated author Tanuja Desai Hidier will sign and read from her books, Bombay Blues, the sequel to her critically acclaimed first novel Born Confused, and perform from her self-innovated accompanying ‘booktrack’ albums of original songs, Bombay Spleen (songs based on Bombay Blues) and When We Were Twins (based on Born Confused), with collaborator on both albums, Atom Fellows. Join us for this amazing transdisciplinary evening celebrating literature and music at Bluestockings.
Suggested Donation: $15
RSVP here
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All events are open to the public. If you would like to RSVP, check out the festival on Facebook.
For questions about the festival or more information, please email litfest@sawcc.org
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
