South Asian Literature & Art Festival

SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE & ART FESTIVAL – October 6 to 13, 2019.

Special event on Oct 18^th at 8 pm | Montalvo Arts Center, 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga CA | Noon to 5 pm

For the first time ever, Montalvo Arts Center and Art Forum in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Institute of South Asian Studies brings to you one of the largest South Asian Literature & Art Festival (SALA) in The US.

South Asian Literature and Art Festival celebrates contemporary reflections of literature and arts from the sub-continent in the US and promises to transform the sylvan Montalvo grounds into a Megalopolis.

Come and spend the day at Montalvo in Saratoga, California, and witness the power of dialogue and discussion, the artist’s refuge, the artist’s atelier, and the writer’s studio! And enter the South Asian Wonderland that revels in telling the stories that may find their roots on the banks of the 4000-year-old Indus River but are narrated in the twenty-first century. Art that is taking the old soul of the subcontinent and is emerging with defiance, contemplation, and dignity in modern times.

The Montalvo grounds will create a fair-like atmosphere with bookstores, book-reading, children’s hands-on craft activities, writing programs, food stalls, and art-related exhibitors, there will be something for everyone and people of all ages.

Folk artists, Bollywood Pop up dancers, Bhangra rhythms, Semi-Classical short pieces of dance interludes interspersed with the subcontinent’s flavorful food stops.

The festival will feature highly acclaimed contemporary Indian Art collection and this exhibit will co-exist along with panel discussions that include Art, Literature, Poetry, and Cinema. Plus, local, national and international authors and artists to speak in keynotes, on-panels, and on-stage presentations.

The Art Walk at Montalvo will feature established artists from its diaspora:

Rekha Roddwittiya, a contemporary and eminent artist whose name is synonymous with a very restrained, yet resounding gaze at feminism

Priyanka Mathew from Sunderlande New York presents the exhibition Revelations: The Evolution of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, featuring iconic works by Jamini Roy, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Krishen Khanna, Anjolie Ela Menon, Shobha Broota, G. R. Iranna, and more. The exhibition opens from Oct 6^th to 13^th.

Dipti Mathur renown art collector and a philanthropist from South Bay in conversation with Prof Sugata Ray from UC Berkeley

Elaborate encounter Deepti Naval, a legendary actor, painter, and a poet, in conversation with Prof Harsha Ram from UC Berkeley

Revisiting Gandhi artist Shelly Jyoti unfurls her yards of handspun cloth

Writers Row at Montalvo will feature established writers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the USA:

Vikram Chandra, Nayomi Munaweera, Minal Hajratwala, and Shanthi Sekaran – established authors from the diaspora

Vikramaditya Motwane – Director, Netflix original Sacred Games

Varun Grover – Scriptwriter, Netflix original Sacred Games

Vikram Chandra – Author, Netflix original Sacred Games

Raghu Karnad – Journalist and the Yale Wyndham Campbell award recipient for Farthest Field in Montalvo

Anurag Kashyap – special event featuring highly acclaimed and award-winning director and scriptwriter is scheduled on October 18^th at 8 pm

The emerging genre of “Children’s & Young Adult Writers” curated by KitaabWorld featuring the South Asian young adult writers, graphic novel writers and children’s writers is another festival high light.

About Art Forum: Art Forum is a not for profit that strives to define and promote all art forms emerging from South Asia. We endeavor to present the visual, the literary and the performing arts in their manifold versions thus promoting a wider reach for South Asian voices.

About Montalvo Art Center: Montalvo Arts Center’s mission is to engage the public in the creative process, acting as a catalyst for exploring the arts, unleashing creativity, and advancing different cultural and cross-cultural perspectives. We achieve our mission by creating and presenting arts of all types, nurturing artists, and using our historic property in innovative ways.

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