The 11th Literary Activism Symposium

Doing the Dirt on Tragedy

Uses D.H. Lawrence’s preference for “liveliness” over “grandeur” to rethink the boundaries of Western and non-Western literary traditions.

Speakers: Amit Chaudhuri, novelist, poet and Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Centre for the Creative and the Critical, Ashoka University; William Harris, critic, writes essays for n+1, New Left Review, Jacobin, etc; Jatin Nayak, translator, literary critic, and Professor Emeritus at KISS University, Bhubaneswar; Sumana Roy, author, critic, and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Ashoka University; Saikat Majumdar, novelist, critic, and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University; Aditya Bahl, poet and critic, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at UCLA; Udayan Vajpeyi, Hindi poet, essayist and Associate Professor at Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal; Simon Cooke, scholar of Victorian and modern literature and Associate Professor of English Literature at Durham University; Tishani Doshi, award-winning poet, novelist and dancer, and Professor of Practice in Literature and Creative Writing at NYU Abu Dhabi; Kirsty Gunn, acclaimed novelist and short story writer, and Professor of Writing Practice at the University of Dundee.

(Collaboration: Ashoka University)

 

Art Matters
Urdu Poetry with Saeed Naqvi, Senior Journalist

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)
 

Prithvi Darshana: Revitalizing Indigenous Epistemes for Sustainable Futures

The symposium turns the searchlight on climate discourse by foregrounding indigenous epistemes, women-led resilience, and the interconnections between climate change, conflict, and human (in)security. It calls for moving beyond merely “adding” climate content to fundamentally reimagining climate-change-sensitive education by bridging community wisdom and academic spaces to cultivate intergenerational, gender-sensitive, and justice-oriented pedagogies for sustainable and inclusive futures. The programme will bring together seasoned scholars, practitioners, women community leaders, and young grassroots practitioners in an intergenerational dialogue to share insights and experiences.

Opening Remarks by Prof. Krishna Menon, Professor, School of Human Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi

Key Speakers: Prof. Anup Dhar, Professor, BML Munjal University, Permanent Fellow, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany; Dr. Ruchira Das, Associate Professor, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi; Dr. Ranjana Das, Associate Professor, Ramjas College, University of Delhi

Reflections and Resonances: Young Voices — Reflections on Climate Change by early career development and climate Practitioners working at the grassroots with conflict-affected communities

Special Intervention: Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Founder-Director, WISCOMP and Life Trustee, IIC

Vote of Thanks: Shriya Raina, Program Associate, WISCOMP

To participate, kindly click here

(Collaboration: WISCOMP and GPPAC)
 

SAMHiTA-Bharat ki Soch Food Colloquium on Food, Wellbeing and Nutrition 
 

Paka and Ahara: Everyday Stories of Food and Nutrition

Speakers: Dr. Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty, Department of History, Ashoka University and postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Dr. Ishita Dey, Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Dr. Neha Vermani, Honorary Fellow, Durham University, UK
 

Chair: Dr Gurmeet Singh, Professor & Dean (Research & Outreach), TDU
 

Food has always occupied a central place in South Asian thought—not merely as sustenance, but as a medium through which ideas of health, wellbeing, ethics, labour, ecology and community are articulated. In manuscripts, memories and everyday kitchens, food emerges as a language of balance and belonging. The SAMHiTA- Bharat ki Soch Food Colloquium brings together noted scholars to trace India’s rich heritage and explore how historical and contemporary food practices shape community life. Through conversations that move between scholarship and lived experience, the colloquium traces how food practices in South Asia have shaped ideas of health, wellbeing and nutrition.
 

Curatorial note: Prof Kiranmayi Bhushi, Department of Sociology, IGNOU
 

Rewriting History: Recent Narratives of our Past

Papers by: R.Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU (On Ancient Period); Syed Ali Nadeem Rizavi, former Secretary, Indian History Congress, Chairman and Coordinator, Centre for Advanced Studies in History, Aligarh Muslim University (On Medieval Period); and Mridula and Aditya Mukherjee, former Professors, JNU (On Modern History)

Chair and Moderator: Sucheta Mahajan, former Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU and Convenor of IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on History.

(Organised by the IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on History under the Convenorship of Sucheta Mahajan)
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

In Your Eyes a River: Poems 
by Radha Chakravarty (Hawakal Publishers, 2025)
(In collaboration with Poetry Society of India)

Discussants: Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Eminent Poet, Critic, Academic & Guest Editor Indian Literature; Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, ICCR & Poet; Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Researcher, Educator & Writer; Dr. Rita Malhotra, Former Principal, Kamla Nehru college, Delhi; Prof. Radha Chakravarty, Writer, Critic; Translator & Author of the book

Chair: K. Jayakumar, President, Poetry Society (India) & Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala

THE IIC DOUBLE BILL: MUSIC RECITALS

Santoor Recital
By Anoushka Majumdar from Delhi, disciple of Guru Pt. Abhay Rustum Sopori
 
At 18:30
Mystic Meera- Bhajan recital

By Priya Kanungo, Disciple of Guru Pt Vidyadhar Vyas
 

Concert 
Piano recital by Kendzsi Tanaka, a Hungarian-Japanese pianist, trained at the Vántus István Music High School in Szeged, the Royal Academy of Music, London under Joanna MacGregor, and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

(Collaboration: Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Delhi, Embassy of Hungary)

 

Kindly register at https://forms.gle/5cTphT1gAftN2aMi8

Ram-Rasa: Experiencing through Sankirtan

A musical led by neuro-divergent creative professionals committed to bridging the gap between traditional spirituality and modern accessibility and promoting inclusion in true sense.

(Collaboration: Inclusive Spaces)
 

The World Is What We See  
A Solo Exhibition of Watercolours by Dr Sunil Parulkar
Curated by Ajay Jugraan and Shuchi Mathur

The exhibition unfolds across three interrelated modes of seeing—Attention, Encounter, and Pause—bringing together architectural studies, portraiture, and nature paintings. Drawing from ideas articulated in the Chitrasutra, it celebrates the rasas s??gara, hasya, and santa. Resonating with Wallace Stevens’s idea that the world is shaped by perception, the exhibition invites reflection, presence, renewal, and quiet joy through attentive seeing.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 18:30 hrs by Dr Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, the Executive and Academic Head of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

The exhibition will remain open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 hrs