Program

We kick off JLF's NYC edition with a panel discussion around one of the first art, tech & NFT shows from the Global South with a focus on South Asia that engages Indian futurisms, indigenous technologies, and future-forward aesthetics while retaining the notion of cultural perpetuity. The panel will feature some of the most celebrated curators, artists, collectors, institutions and tech platforms. 

In her latest historical novel, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni draws a vivid portrait of the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire, Maharani Jindan Kaur. Jindan, the regent of the vast Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846, was renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose. When her son, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan assumed the regency. She transformed herself from a pampered wife to a warrior ruler, determined to protect her people and her son’s birthright from the encroaching British Empire. Divakaruni’s previous books include the bestselling novel Mistress of Spices and the short story collection Arranged Marriage, which won the PEN/Josephine Miles award and the American Book Award. She appears in conversation with Sanjoy Roy, managing director of the Jaipur Literary Festival’s producer Teamwork Arts.

In her two latest books, Points of View: Defining Moments of Photography in India and The Archival Gaze: A Timeline of Photography in India 1840-2020, the celebrated art critic and curator Gayatri Sinha takes a deep dive into the technological changes and aesthetic movements which shaped photography in the Indian subcontinent. This two-volume study of Indian photography is not just a narrative of colonial conquest and capture, but of the imaginative subversions and creative enquiry that went into the making of a modern independent nation and its art. In a special National Arts Club event introduced by Deepanjana Klein, Sinha discusses the development of Indian photography with her fellow curator, museum director Roobina Karode.

There is much to be learnt from the lives of birds and from watching and listening to them. Author and ornithologist Tara Gandhi works on biodiversity conservation and the documentation of India’s birds and other wildlife. Her works include Birds and Plant Regeneration, on the intimate relationship between flora and fauna, Birds, Wild Animals and Agriculture: Conflict and Coexistence in India, and Words for Birds: The Collected Radio Broadcasts, a collection of the ‘Birdman of India’, Sálim Ali’s brilliant radio transmissions. Join Tara Gandhi for an illuminating talk and study of birds in our world.

Internationally acclaimed performers, composers, cultural entrepreneurs and music educators Pandit Shubhendra Rao and Cello Virtuoso Saskia Rao-de Haas carry Indian music towards new horizons with their strong belief in the unifying power of music. Their effortless musical communication and improvisation is a joyful experience for listeners who are spellbound by the energy and freshness that they bring to their performance.

Diplomat, writer, public intellectual and academic, Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s recent book, Restless As Mercury: My Life As a Young Man, is a riveting and candid account of the struggles and experiences that formed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s philosophy, through various stages of his life. A continuation of the Mahatma's autobiography, My Experiments With Truth, the book is rooted in the research of his writings and personal communications. Edited by the youngest of Kasturba and Mohandas Gandhi's grandchildren, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the book provides deep insights into the beliefs nurtured by the Mahatma and the balance he maintained between love for family and his overriding sense of public duty. In conversation with Ramu Damodaran, Gopalkrishna Gandhi reads selected excerpts and discusses the contemporary relevance of the text.

In her latest historical novel, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni draws a vivid portrait of the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire, Maharani Jindan Kaur. Jindan, the regent of the vast Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846, was renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose. When her son, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan assumed the regency. She transformed herself from a pampered wife to a warrior ruler, determined to protect her people and her son’s birthright from the encroaching British Empire. Divakaruni’s previous books include the bestselling novel Mistress of Spices and the short story collection Arranged Marriage, which won the PEN/Josephine Miles award and the American Book Award. She appears in conversation with Sanjoy Roy, managing director of the Jaipur Literary Festival’s producer Teamwork Arts.

Journalist and writer Akash Kapur’s book on the intentional community of Auroville, an international township of thousands located in South India, is at once a haunting personal quest and an erudite study in the history of utopias. "Better to Have Gone: Love, Death and the Quest for Utopia" unravels a personal tragedy, the mysterious deaths of John Walker and Diane Maes, parents to Kapur’s wife, Auralice. Kapur returns to Auroville, where both he and his wife were raised, and in confronting the ghosts of those distant deaths, reveals an astonishing history of faith, idealism, extremism, and the quest for perfectionism. In conversation with Myna Mukherjee, Kapur discusses Auroville, the opportunities and perils of utopia, and the nature of memory and personal grief and how they intersect with history.

Sarfraz Manzoor's memoir, Greetings From Bury Park, is a hymn to his late father and to the other great hero in his life - Bruce Springsteen. Adapted into film as Blinded By The Light by Gurinder Chadha, it chronicles his experiences as a British Muslim boy growing up in 1980s Luton and the impact Springsteen’s lyrics had upon him. His recent book, They: What Muslims and Non-Muslims Get Wrong About Each Other, examines the roots of the social and cultural divisions that plague Britain today. Introduced by Sanjoy K Roy, Manzoor takes us on a journey through his life and work.

The Banner of Peace, symbolic of the Roerich Pact—the first international treaty dedicated to the protection of artistic establishments, scientific institutions and historical monuments—was proposed by Russian artist, philosopher and writer Nicholas Roerich, illustrated after he had shifted to India, and signed in 1935 by an American President along with representatives from twenty Latin American countries—a global coming together to ensure the longevity of artistic and cultural treasures. The original painting is now in the custodianship of DAG. This session observes the cultural and historical significance of a Pact that famously preceded the formation of the United Nations while evaluating its humanitarian significance in today's world.

An important conversation in which Dalit activist Guru Prakash Paswan discusses the wounds of history and the processes of restorative justice. His co-authored book, Makers of Modern Dalit History, features the inspiring accounts of individuals who battled the divisive, discriminatory force of caste - their forms of protest, activism, social reform, and legacy - in contemporary India. Shazia Ilmi is an Indian politician and journalist. They will be in conversation with journalist Prashant Jha.

The very architecture of thought has transformed in the digital world. It is marked by agility, speed, disruptive processes and the courage of creative destruction and reinvention. A distinguished panel seeks the markers and provocations of change, and discusses how it can be inclusive for the greater good.

Acclaimed writer and academic, Mahmood Mamdani’s recent book, Neither Settler nor Native, is a genealogy of the colonial and nation state. Steeped in research and case-studies, the book signals the need to reimagine political communities beyond tokenism and expediency. Mamdani in this session explores the nature of the nation state, and the path to a reimagined, decolonised future.

Multidisciplinary contemporary Indian artist Seema Kohli discusses Miter Pyare Nu, an autobiographical novel that strings together her late father K. D. Kohli’s recollections of his ancestral land Pind Dadan Khan, set in the Greater Punjab of pre-partition British India. A chronicle of Kohli and his ancestors’ life spanning over four generations, the book covers his personal history and emotions that span from 1860 to 2021.