Words, stories, ideas from Asia and the diaspora

Words, stories, ideas from Asia and the diaspora

10 September 2018

Anna Temby, Literature Programme Manager at Asia House, introduces this year’s Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival.

Welcome to the 12th edition of the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival – the largest pan-Asian Literature Festival in the UK.

This year’s Festival highlights writing from Turkey to Tokyo alongside stories from the Asian diaspora. There will be an exploration of the role of women in today’s society, a reflection on the social and political trends sweeping across the world’s fastest-changing continent and an examination of British Asian identities.

The emphasis on women’s voices and stories ties in with 2018 marking 100 years of women’s suffrage in the UK. Our speakers Mishal Husain, Elif Shafak, Sherin Khankan and Nikita Gill are just some of the remarkable women who are making strides in their respective fields and writing about their experiences.

This may be the year of celebrating women but we also have fantastic male writers – from Abir Mukherjee and Jeffrey Archer discussing their writing and love of India to Louis de Bernières talking about setting parts of his novels in colonial Ceylon.

Alongside our exciting array of talks, don’ t miss our evening of scary storytelling at Rich Mix on 31st October – or, for all you budding poets out there, our 2018 Asia House Poetry Slam, where judges Momtaza Mehri, Zia Ahmed and Nikita Gill will select this year’s winner.

We are once again grateful for the support of the Bagri Foundation, who share our vision to make Asian arts and culture more accessible and available to
audiences across the UK.

With a variety of different events and a stellar line-up of speakers, we hope that you will be inspired and entertained by the words, stories and ideas from and about Asia and the diaspora.

Anna Temby
Literature Programme Manager

View the full festival line up