Modern technology and the Internet have created an easily navigable and fluid global culture, where information is accessible, languages can be translated and deep customs transmitted to other countries via smartphones and other devices. Yet authors who write in languages other than English oftentimes find themselves as isolated from the mainstream as they ever were.

Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in India where some 700 languages are spoken and 86 different scripts are used.

Yet more than ever, Indian literature and its authors are playing an impactful role in the representation of India and its image around the world.

Dont miss this fascinating conversation about the impact and agency of Indian literature in a global world featuring Vikas Swarup whose book Slumdog Millionaire (originally titledQ&A) has been translated into 42 languages and whose big screen adaptation grossed $375 million at the box office; Indian feminist publisher and author of The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India, Urvashi Butalia; author of From The Ruins of Empire and public intellectual Pankaj Mishra, who the Economist says is the heir to Edward Said; and Suketu Mehta, whose Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.

Featuring authors 

Pankaj Mishra, From The Ruins of Empire

Urvashi Butalia (in photo at right), Founder, Zubaan Books, India and author ofThe Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India

Vikas Swarup, Slumdog Millionaire

Suketu Mehta, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found

In Conversation with Vishakha Desai, Special Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Special Advisor for Asia to the Executive Vice President for Global Centers and Global Development, and Professor of Professional Practice at the School of International and Public Affairs

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