MEDIA RELEASE: Xinran launches hotly anticipated new book at Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival 2015
MEDIA RELEASE: Xinran launches hotly anticipated new book at Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival 2015
07 April 2015
LONDON, UK – Today Asia House, in partnership with the Bagri Foundation, announce the full programme of the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival 2015. Now in its ninth year, it is the only UK Festival dedicated to pan-Asian writing and will include talks from some of the most exciting names in literature including British-Chinese author Xinran, Turkey’s bestselling author Elif Şafak, award-winning Indian novelist Anuradha Roy and one of South Korea’s most important modern writers, Hwang Sok-yong.
The Festival will run from 7 – 18 May, 2015 and all events will take place at Asia House, which is just off Oxford Street in central London.
At the core of this year’s programme is an exploration of youth and gender with an in-depth look at the important issues affecting the current generation across the globe. The Festival will examine the issue of women’s historical involvement in suffrage movements, introduce China’s only children and Nepal’s child goddesses, look at forbidden love and also explore the themes of migration and displacement.
The Festival will hold a number of exciting book launches. Xinran, British-Chinese journalist, author and advocate for women’s issues, will launch her first book in many years, Buy Me the Sky, which tells the remarkable stories of men and women born in China after 1979 – the recent generations raised under China’s One Child Policy. Award-winning author Anuradha Roy will launch her new book Sleeping on Jupiter and be in conversation with Claire Armitstead, books editor for The Guardian and Observer. In addition, famed food and travel writer Jeff Koehler will take an alternative perspective on Asian culture, launching his book Darjeeling: The Colourful History and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest Tea.
Creative writing workshops, a walking book club and a celebratory series on storytelling will take place as part of the rich and varied programme. There will also be a number of exciting events for children including a celebration of The Ramayana and other classic stories from Asia, where Asia House will be turned into a magical realm, with roaming mythical characters, workshops, face painting and a story from celebrated children’s writer Jamila Gavin.
A number of events will take place outside of the main Festival dates, including a special pre-General Election event with BBC journalist Anita Anand, who will be discussing her book Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionarywith literary editor of The Independent, Arifa Akbar. The talk will look at the role women could play in shifting the political outcome. After the Festival has finished, Asia House will be hosting an event at Waterstones Piccadilly with Indian author Amitav Ghosh, who will be discussing his new masterpiece, Flood of Fire.
Jemimah Steinfeld, Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival Manager, said of this year’s programme: “The countdown has already begun for what should be a truly exciting and inspiring Festival. 2015 is set to be one of our most diverse festivals to date, which we have packed full of fresh voices and new perspectives, alongside some of the most esteemed and established writers from across Asia. The programme invites attendees to really think about the world around them and how it is being shaped in the here and now. Mixing all of this with fun, interactive events will create a truly dynamic Festival, one in which words come alive both on the page and off.”
For more information about the Festival and to see the full programme of events, click here.
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For press enquiries, please contact Lucy Tomlinson on lucy.tomlinson@asiahouse.co.uk or 0207 307 5451.
ENDS
Asia House is a centre of expertise on Asia. Our mission is to bring the UK and Asia closer through our pioneering events on business, policy and politics, and arts and learning. We are the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK, having built our reputation on our extensive network, our objectivity and our independence. Asia House is a non-profit, non-political organisation. Visit www.asiahouse.org for further information.
The Bagri Foundation is a UK registered charity whose principal aims include the advancement of literature, education and the arts, as well as the appreciation and understanding of Asian cultures. The Foundation runs rich and diverse cultural programmes and collaborates with other organisations to further its own charitable objectives.
The Asia House Bagri Foundation partnership was announced in January 2014 and has enabled Asia House to expand its schools and libraries programmes outside of London and to promote literacy in areas throughout the UK where there are large populations of Asians and British Asians. As part of this year’s Festival, there will be a number of youth engagement programmes including school workshops, a student writing competition and student panel sessions. For more information about the partnership, click here.
