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South Asia at the Göteborg Book Fair 2017

Book fair
Göteborg Book Fair 2013 as seen from the second floor.

In this year's Göteborg Book Fair there will be two seminars with a South Asian theme. One is a dialogue on contemporary literature in Bangladesh and the other is a talk with Arundhati Roy on her new book, which deals with modern Indian history. SASNET director Andreas Johansson will also be at the fair talking about the camera's role in academia.

28 September 12.00-12.45: What is happening in contemporary literature in Bangladesh?

The country of Bangladesh is over one thousand years old and will be celebrating 50 years of independence in 2021. Its linguistic and literary history is equally ancient. The first Bengali poetry, known as The Charyapada, was written between the 8th and 12th centuries. The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), who received the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature, is the main architect of modern Bengali literature. Tagore also wrote the national anthems for Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. During the century since Tagore became the first non-European recipient of the Nobel Prize, the international media has hardly produced any appreciative news on literature in Bangladesh. Against this backdrop, and as a continuation of focusing on Bengali literature since 2013, the Göteborg Book Fair is presenting four prominent literary talents from different generations: Shamsuzzaman Khan (director general at Bangla Academy), Muhammad Samad (president at the National Poetry Council of Bangladesh), Tarik Sujat (poet, publisher and graphic artist at Journeyman Books/Association of Publishers for Creative and Academic Books) and Anisur Rahman (former guest-writer in Bangladesh). They will hold a dialogue with their Swedish colleague, Lars HägerOrganizer: Litteraturcentrum Uppsala, Bangla Academy, National Poetry Council of Bangladesh. 

Location: Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, Gothenburg (ask for the exact location at the information desk). 

28 September 14.00-14.45: Returning to literary fiction

Arundhati Roy is a phenomenon in the literary world. She broke through in 1997 with the novel The God of Small Things and was the first author from India to be awarded with the pretigious Man Booker Prize. She then left literary fiction behinf and made a name for herself as an activist and social commentator. In a number of books and articles, Arundhati Roy has fought for womens's rights and against dam projects and environmental degradation, among other things. But then exactly twenty years after her enormous public breakghrough a new novel suddenly emerges. Why did she choose to return to literature? What, in her new book The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, does she want to say about Indian society that she cannot say in a newspaper article? Moderator: John Freeman, American author, literary critic and editor of Freeman's. 

Location: Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, Gothenburg

Read more about the seminars


1 October 14.45-15.00: Gods, Dragons and Guns

Andreas Johansson will talk about the use of visual antropology as a research method. (IN SWEDISH)

Location: Forskartorget, Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, Gothenburg 

Read more about Forskartorget.