1. Brahma Purana
Bibek Debroy introduced by Pushpesh Pant
The session began with an introduction to Bibek Debroy’s latest book, “Brahma Purana”. Debroy further discussed how the Puranas are supposed to represent the five characteristics of Panchlakshana.
Brahma Purana was mentioned by Debroy and he talked about the four latest editions in the Brahama Purana. At the end he advised the audience to begin with Bhagvad Purana or the Markhanda Purana as a beginner to gain more insight into the world of slokhas and Puranas.
2. The Bernardine Manifesto
Bernardine Evaristo in conversation with Nandini Nair
Nandini Nair, while talking about Berananrdine Evaristo’s memoir, ‘MANIFESTO’ said that it is about Evaristo’s life. On being asked what prompted her to write the book, Evaristo said, “In a way, I wasn’t an overnight success but I was also an overnight success because literally my life was completely transformed from the evening of the Booker to the morning after the Booker because suddenly everything I wanted for my career, happened.” Evaristo said that she was a reserved and private person but afterward she found herself really open about her life. Being a reserved person, Evaristo said she never planned on writing an auto-biography. She then said, “But then I thought I’d like to write about my life in relationship to my creativity and that felt like the perfect thing to do at that stage. Because people can’t compare a memoir with a novel.” Nair talked about how Evaristo belonged to a bi-racial family and never sinned as a child so she ended up making confessions and sins. Evaristo agreed and said she started going to confessions when she was 7 or 8. Nair questioned about her life as black family in a white neighborhood and the way she called racism in London, a prejudice.
Evaristo said that they weren’t welcomed. She said, “On the one hand, we were living our lives as brown British people but on the other hand, there was the underlying and sometimes very over racism that we experienced…”. She continued, “I grew up feeling that I didn’t belong with a degree of self hatred about my racialization.” She even said she didn’t like the color of her father’s skin at one point of time. Evaristo said when she was 18 or 19 she went to a drama school where she was a part of a group of 5 black women and that was the beginning of her politicization as black feminist and that’s when she claimed her black identity. That has influenced her writing ever since. While talking about mainstream history, Evaristo said, “…As a woman of color grown up in Britain, we were invisible in the recording of its history.” Nair shared her thoughts about Evaristo’s other book called ‘Girl, Women, Other’ and said it’s a brilliant book and has very innovative punctuation. There are limited fullstops and very few capital letters. Evaristo called the book a “fusion fiction”. The session ended with Evaristo talking about the hard work of writing and the fun behind it.
3. Brahma Purana
Bibek Debroy introduced by Pushpesh Pant
The session began with an introduction to Bibek Debroy’s latest book, Brahma Purana. Debroy further discussed how the Puranas are supposed to represent the five characteristics of Panchlakshana.
Brahma Purana was mentioned by Debroy and he talked about the four latest editions in the Brahma Purana. At the end he advised the audience to begin with Bhagavata Purana or the Markandeya Purana as a beginner to gain more insight into the world of shloka’s and Puranas.
4. Durjoy Datta: The Boy Who Loves
Durjoy Datta in conversation with Kiran Manral
Durjoy talks about his journey as a writer from being published at 21, till writing his latest novel “When I’m with you.” He further discussed the depth and background to his characters and how he comes about writing them and the flaws many of his characters have.
He discusses romance in today’s generation and how the essence and the foundation remains the same throughout the generations. Discussions around the social media presence of the author also took place and how sharing certain aspects of his life with his readers increases the relatability factor in his books, that is, he is seen to them as being more relatable and more “human”.
Dutta further talks about his imposter syndrome as a writer and as an author in today’s literary landscape. He mentions the importance of his readers and followers in his writing process. Durjoy Dutta also mentions the Young adult authors he grew up reading like John Green and Stephen King.
