Next month Asia House will hold
its annual Festival of Asian Literature, which brings to the British public the
newest fiction, non-fiction and poetry written about Asia. The Festival’s
director, Adrienne Loftus Parkins, explained how writers are chosen to
participate: “We want to present the best books and the most stimulating
discussions. Beyond that, the books we feature are mostly published in English
in the UK, so that the British audience has access to them. We prefer books
published in the year leading up to each festival. Work can be written by
Asians or non-Asians, but it must be about Asia or Asians, and give insight
into the understanding of Asian cultures and concerns. Preference is given to
books about contemporary topics, and books must work within our theme for the
year.”
This year the theme is freedom:
freedom of expression; education; travel; justice; the freedom to read the
truth and to live in our chosen ways. Festival events will examine censorship,
corruption, gender, economies, social issues and political freedoms.
In the UK, few are denied many freedoms, so who is the
intended audience for Asia House’s events? “Our audience is anyone who is
interested in Asian countries and cultures.” Said Loftus Parkins, “As we cover
such a wide range of countries and cultures, the second and third generations
who attend are from a broad range of countries. An event focused on Iran will
be about 60% Iranian, or Iranian diaspora, while an event focused on women and
Islam will see an audience with a vast array of people attending from a number
of home countries.”
Although all the books featured
are written in or translated into English, I wondered what happened when an
author doesn’t speak English? “We
provide a translator, as we will do this year for Chinese authors Ma Jian and
Yan Lianke. Often authors work with their own translators who they bring to the
events.”
I asked Loftus Parkins what she
thought writers and readers hoped to get out of the Festival? “We provide a
venue where people can come together in a relatively intimate, relaxed
environment. Being the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK, we have a deep
understanding of the things that matter to both the writers and the audience,
and also of Asian perspectives. Writers
enjoy it because we produce events with an understanding of the issues they are
writing about, matching them with moderators and other authors who can provide
a stimulating discussion of the topics.
They also have an opportunity to interact with people in the West who
understand the issues about which they are writing. Readers like our events because they know at Asia House we
know Asia. They will have the opportunity to hear stimulating discussions,
followed by intelligent questions. They also find that with relatively small
audiences, and a friendly atmosphere, they have a greater opportunity to meet
and talk with the authors at receptions afterwards. We recently hosted an
evening with Mohsin Hamid who spoke about his latest book, How to Get Filthy
Rich in Rising Asia. The audience loved having the chance to
ask him questions about his perceptions of Pakistan. We are excited about
giving people the chance to do the same with other authors throughout the
Festival.” (See the post of March 29 for discussion of How to Get
Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.)
The Asia House Festival of
Asian Literature runs 7-22 May. You can participate via the following
platforms:
Blog: www.asiahouse.org
Facebook: Like
them at Asia House or at Asia House Festival of Asian Literature
Twitter: @festofasianlit (There will be live tweets from
many events at the Festival.)
YouTube: Asia
House has its own channel.
Audioboo: http://audioboo.fm/channel/asia-house
