Saturday, June 21, 12 - 5
Wieboldt Hall, 339 E. Chicago, Room 413
$10-$20 donation requested, sliding scale. DesiLit is a non-profit organization; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
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11:30: Registration opens
12:00 - 12:45: Introduction to Taxes for New and Experienced Writers, taught by imi rashid, cpa. Learn from an expert what you can deduct (books, travel, grad school, and more), and when you can start (right now!)
1 - 1:45: Panel Discussion: Writing the Novel -- Panelists talk about the process of writing and publishing their novels -- Narayan, Desai, Mohanraj, Primlani
2 - 2:15: Meet and Greet: A break to mingle, chat, meet the panelists.
2:15 - 2:45: Reading: Kirin Narayan, Boman Desai, Angeli Primlani
3 - 3:45: Panel Discussion: Getting the Writing Done -- Panelists and audience discuss strategies for getting their writing done, around full-time jobs, children, procrastination and the rest of our busy lives. -- Narayan, Desai, Mohanraj, Souri
4 - 4:30: Reading: Ranjit Souri, Mary Anne Mohanraj
5:00 - Group dinner -- Panelists and audience are all invited to go out for dinner together and continue the discussion.
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Boman Desai (www.bomandesai.com) grew up in Bombay, but has lived his adult life in Chicago. He got his first break when an elegant elderly woman submitted a number of his stories to the editor-in-chief of Debonair magazine in Bombay. The stories were all published, but the woman disappeared, and her identity remains a mystery to this day. He is the author of THE MEMORY OF ELEPHANTS, TRIO, and A WOMAN MADLY IN LOVE, among others.
Mary Anne Mohanraj (www.mamohanraj.com) is the author of BODIES IN MOTION (a novel-in-stories), THE POET'S JOURNEY (a children's picture book), and A TASTE OF SERENDIB (a Sri Lankan cookbook). She teaches creative writing and Asian American literature at Northwestern University, and received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose. She serves as Executive Director for DesiLit (www.desilit.org), which supports S. Asian and diaspora literature.
Kirin Narayan is the author of LOVE, STARS, AND ALL THAT (a charming novel portraying the romantic mishaps that attend a shy Indian graduate student's attempts to adjust to life in Berkeley, Calif), MY FAMILY AND OTHER SAINTS (memoir), MONDAYS ON THE DARK NIGHT OF THE MOON and STORYTELLERS, SAINTS, AND SCOUNDRELS (academic studies of Himalayan folktales and Hindu religious teaching). Ms. Narayan is Professor of Anthropology & Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Angeli Primlani is a journalist and fiction writer; she wrote for the Prague Post until 1999 and currently lives in Chicago where she writes sprawling historical/fabulist novels.
imi rashid is a certified public accountant dedicated to serving individuals, groups and communities that are actively in the business of creating change through art, grassroots organizing, social justice activism and anti-oppression work. imi seeks to promote financial sustainability and integrity within individuals and groups by understanding and respecting the work that they do while offering friendly, helpful and easy to understand advice in a safe and comfortable environment. visit www.imirashid.com.
Ranjit Souri is a frequent contributor to India Currents magazine. His essay Fireworks and Beethoven was named a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2007. He is one-third of the Indian-American comedy trio Siblings of Doctors. Ranjit studied at Case Western Reserve University (B.S.) and Columbia University (MBA).
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This DesiLit event is sponsored by the Kiran Bavikatte Memorial Foundation and Northwestern University's School of Continuing Studies.