Thinking Big in Mumbai

Wandering Bookwallahs in Mumbai

The Mumbai Lit LIve Festival is drawing to a close. Last night the Bookwallah crew had dinner in a house overlooking Mumbai harbour before jumping on the last train to Bandra where the eloquent and gutsy author Annie Zaidl took us on a night ramble through the sleepy back streets of Mumbai. It was a beautiful evening that wound to a close at 3.00 am when Ben Law and I took a cab back to our hotel (and both fell asleep as the taxi sped along Marine Drive.)

Ben Law and amazing street art at 2.00 am

 This morning I woke early and then headed off to the National Centre for Performing, Arts where the festival is being staged, to participate in a panel on cross cultural narratives with Pakistani author Moni Mohsin.

There's almost been too much to blog about over the past few days and I have three unfinished posts tucked away in a draft folder which I'll upload when I reach Goa tomorrow. But the cross cultural narratives panel set me thinking about the whole dilemma of sharing complex stories, about the new direction that fiction, and especially fiction from across Asia, will move in over the next few decades.

A couple of months ago I was interviewed by the Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing project along with other Australian children's and YA authors who are venturing into writing cross-cultural stories. There's so much more to share.

http://www.austlit.edu.au/images/AACLAP-Interview-Anthology-2012.pdf