Brown Girl Magazine
  • Home
  • Trending
    • In the News
    • Feminism
    • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • Bollywood
    • East-Meets-West
    • Filmy Buzz
    • Music
    • Cinema
    • BG Poetry
    • Good Reads
  • Culture
    • Social Activism
    • Breaking Taboos
    • Colonial Effects
    • Humanities
    • Identity
    • Indo-Caribbean
    • Tradition
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty Buzz
    • Fashion
    • Foodie
    • Career
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    • Women’s Health
    • Clean Eats
    • Fitness 101
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
    • Sexuality
  • Community
    • BG Youth
    • Black Lives Matter
    • USA
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • South Asia
    • Spotlight
  • Brown Boy
  • Listen
shop
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Trending
    • In the News
    • Feminism
    • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • Bollywood
    • East-Meets-West
    • Filmy Buzz
    • Music
    • Cinema
    • BG Poetry
    • Good Reads
  • Culture
    • Social Activism
    • Breaking Taboos
    • Colonial Effects
    • Humanities
    • Identity
    • Indo-Caribbean
    • Tradition
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty Buzz
    • Fashion
    • Foodie
    • Career
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    • Women’s Health
    • Clean Eats
    • Fitness 101
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
    • Sexuality
  • Community
    • BG Youth
    • Black Lives Matter
    • USA
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • South Asia
    • Spotlight
  • Brown Boy
  • Listen
shop
No Result
View All Result
Brown Girl Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Community Highlight

Top Ten Quotes Heard at IAAC’s South Asian Literary Festival

Brown Girl Magazine by Brown Girl Magazine
August 2, 2022
in Community Highlight
0 0
0
Top Ten Quotes Heard at IAAC’s South Asian Literary Festival
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

by Rajdeep Paulus 

Since New York City has long been known as the literary capital of the world, it only made sense for the Indo-American Arts Council to present the first ever South Asian Literary Festival this past week. The participants and attendees will surely agree, much was shared, great conversations were had and words from writers will never be forgotten. Here are just a few:

1. On identity and his life in New York, Booker Prize winner Sir Salman Rushdie said, “No where else will someone question you if you say you’re a New Yorker, you’re a New Yorker. If you’ve lived here twelve years or been here twelve days.”

Salmon Rushdie
Sir Salmon Rushdie speaking at the IAAC Literary Festival’s opening night

2. On telling great stories during the LGBT stories panel, author Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla reminded us: “Writing is not an act of confession, but an act of the imagination.”

3. In a very vulnerable moment as she talked of the first real experience of loss in her life, award-winning movie director, Mira Nair, recalls a parent’s words when he lost the love of his life on the brink of what would have been a momentous anniversary. “He just kept repeating the number of years they had been married.” And her mantra, which she often repeats has always been, “If we don’t tell our stories, no one else will.”

4. On the concerns of telling a South Asian story, debut author of “An Isolated Incident,” Soniah Kamal says, “Some people like to bring sexy back, I’m bringing back my right to write about monsoons, henna, monkeys, bangles, mangoes and more. I spent four agonizing months debating whether I was a sellout if one of my characters gorged on mangoes. But, hey, it’s Lahore, it’s the summer, what else is he going to be eating: pancakes! No to exotification. A big yes to reality.“

5. On the often discouraging quest to get published, New York Times’ journalist Parul Sehgal turned to the audience and said, “Don’t get disheartened. Keep writing. People are reading.”

6. There was a lot of discussion on whether you have to be South Asian to tell a story with South Asian characters well, and if you are South Asian, should you limit yourself to stories with South Asian voices. Suketu Mehta, along with others, responded similarly, but in his words: “I don’t see why Indians should restrict ourselves to writing only about India.”

Rajiv Satyal Aasif Mundvi
Rakesh Satyal (left), Rajiv Satyal (middle) and Aasif Mandvi (right) at the IAAC session, “Just for Laughs: The serious business of comedy writing.” Photo credit: Siraj Huda

7. In response to a comment made by Rajiv Satyal, who moderated the panel on humor and publishing with brother and author of “Blue Boy,” Rakesh Satyal and writer, producer, comedian and author of “No Land’s Man” Aasif Mandvi, had us all laughing when he said, “So are you saying that I’m not as famous as Tina Fey? That’s what you’re saying, right?”

8. At the closing ceremony, Aroon Shivdisani, executive director and founder of IAAC and the mastermind behind the festival, raved about the week’s success with mostly standing room only packed attendance at all the sessions and said, “Next year, we will get bigger rooms. And the festival will only be bigger and better!”

img_2
Patrick Healy (left), Aroon Shivdisani (middle) and Ayad Akhtar (right) at the closing night of the IAAC South Asian Literary Festival. Photo credit: Siraj Huda

9. On the final night, moderator and New York Times Journalist Patrick Healy asked Pulitzer winning playwright, Ayad Akhtar, “How do you deal with hitting a creative wall?” His answer, “I trust the wall.” But he also had the audience in stitches when he boldly said, “Punjabi’s are the southern Italians of South Asia, histrionic and expressive.” Being a Punjabi girl myself, I could not agree more. Excuse me while I take a moment to get my balay-balay on.

10. In closing, I have to share the moment that moved me and will stay with me forever. On the difference between books, movies and plays, playwright and script writer of the upcoming “Bangali Harlem,” Aladdin Ullah said, “It’s different. With books, you read it. With movies, you see it. But with theater, with the story coming alive on the stage,” and as he got choked up, he added, “You feel it.” And everyone in the room felt it.

The passion behind the power of a great story comes from the passion of the storyteller. And thinking back on IAAC’s event that’s the word that comes to mind — passion. The world of Literary Art is passionate and growing in fervor as new and vibrant writers emerge every day. We have much to celebrate. And many more stories to tell.

[divider]

rajdeep paulusRajdeep Paulus is the Award-Winning author of Swimming Through Clouds, mommy to four princesses, wife of Sunshine, a coffee-addict and a chocoholic. As of this June 2013, she’s a Tough Mudder. To find out more, visit her website or connect with her via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.

 

Tags: artfestivalfilmIAACliterature

Recent Posts

  • Sun and Skincare: South Asian Beauty Influencers Share Their Summer Season Must-Haves
  • Kayan Opens up About her Music Artistry
  • Decoding Dopamine Dressing This Summer
  • In Conversation With Ashok Amritraj: Celebrating his 40-Year Legacy
  • Enduring the Fight for Freedom

Recent Comments

  1. Op-Ed: Rihanna, Savage X Fenty, and the Continued Misuse and Disrespect of Hinduism on Dark Goddesses and me: Religious Colorism in Hindu India
  2. Celebrating International Mother Language Day and Multilingualism on On Language and Home: Revisiting Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘In Other Words’
  3. What International Mother Language Day Means to British Bangladeshis on Celebrating International Mother Language Day with Self Reflection and Reclaiming One’s Bangladeshi Identity
  4. Book Review: Understanding Public Health on Deeper Level with 'Health Care of a Thousand Slights' by Anjana Sreedhar on Pursuing Inspiration: Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Health Care, and Self-Care
  5. Book Review: ‘ZOM-FAM’ by Kama La Mackerel on Grazing Over Pages of Identities Unmilked: ‘The Cowherd’s Son’
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Youtube Envelope

About

Founded as an online publication in 2008, Brown Girl Magazine is a multimedia company based in New York City with global reach dedicated to South Asian self-expression, cultural anchoring, and dialogue.
Through diverse, multimedia content and community building, we empower and engage those who identify as a part of the South Asian diaspora with a hyphenated identity.

Subscribe To The Spark

A curated newsletter full of dinner-table worthy topics, thought provoking stories, promo codes and the spiciest memes straight to your inbox.

Categories

  • Entertainment
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Health
  • Relationships
  • Community
  • Brown Boy

©Copyright Brown Girl Magazine Inc.

  • Company
  • About
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Advertise
  • Sponsored Content
  • Privacy Policy
  • Term of use
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Trending
    • In the News
    • Feminism
    • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • Bollywood
    • East-Meets-West
    • Filmy Buzz
    • Music
    • Cinema
    • BG Poetry
    • Good Reads
  • Culture
    • Social Activism
    • Breaking Taboos
    • Colonial Effects
    • Humanities
    • Identity
    • Indo-Caribbean
    • Tradition
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty Buzz
    • Fashion
    • Foodie
    • Career
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    • Women’s Health
    • Clean Eats
    • Fitness 101
  • Relationships
    • Dating
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
    • Sexuality
  • Community
    • BG Youth
    • Black Lives Matter
    • USA
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • South Asia
    • Spotlight
  • Brown Boy
  • Listen

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Go to mobile version