photos 20th April, 2009 - 22nd April, 2009
India's Literature through Fresh Eyes

India is Market Focus at London Book Fair and the British Council is planning an exciting programme of activity in and around the event. Following the success of the Arab World Market Focus in 2008 the UK's international cultural relations body, the British Council, will once again partner London Book Fair to present a cultural programme for India. We are delighted to also be working with the Nehru Centre to bring events with writers to the public.

One aim of the cultural programme and the British Council's new literature programme, India 09: through fresh eyes is to build on existing relationships between India and the UK and establish links between people who share a passion and enthusiasm for literature and publishing.

The British Council's programme within London Book Fair, which takes place at Earl's Court in London from 20-22 April 2009, includes a series of ten panel discussions. In these, India's best authors and publishers - in English and other Indian languages - will come together to talk about trends in contemporary Indian fiction, writing by the diaspora, literature arising from conflict and issues of identity and much more. Many new writers, as well as established voices from the publishing industry in India, will be heard in the UK for the first time as part of the programme.

In collaboration with the Nehru Centre, as well as other partners including the British Library, Foyles Bookshops, Free the Word! Festival and Wasafiri magazine, the British Council will also present a series of public events at the time of London Book Fair. These will include readings by both established and emerging Indian writers, and discussions between Indian and UK writers on topics of interest to both our countries. The full programme of activity has now been finalized - see the British Council's website for further details.

After London Book Fair 2009 the British Council will continue to foster links between Indian and UK writers through a sustained programme of activity across India. For further information about the India 09 cultural programme, please see www.britishcouncil.org/India For further information about London Book Fair Market Focus 2009, please see www.londonbookfair.co.uk

Wednesday 1st April, 2009 - 6.30p.m
A special preview of the 'Indian String and Dance Exhibition', undertaken by London Sitar Ensemble, Museum of Croydon and Sutton Subrang at the Croydon Clocktower between 10th April - 1st August 2009 will be hosted at the Nehru Centre.

The India - Britain story is a 400 year long tale of travel, migration and cultural exchange. This journey has made a significant influence on the cultural scene of British Arts. This interactive exhibition aims to explore the evolution and contribution made by the musicians and dancers to the cultural scene of Britain. It showcases outputs of the String and Dance Festival project, musical instruments and objects collected from the local community groups and other donors like Horniman Museum, Oral History interviews (video) of musicians and dancers , photographs and videos showing musical performances and dances from the Indian Sub-Continent as performed in the UK, costumes and associated musical instruments of all eight classical Indian dance styles and three folk dance genres from western India. Two photo exhibitions will complement the exhibition and will be displayed in other public areas of the Clocktower. The exhibition is curated by Lata Desai and Rolf Killius in close collaboration with Rob Shakespeare, Acting Museum Service Manager.

The exhibition is embedded in a string of FREE events like workshops, lectures/demonstrations, music and dance performances by prominent artists like Pushkala Gopal, Manorama Prasad, Somjit Dasgupta, Viram Jasani, Nicolas Magriel, Dharambir Singh, Baluji Shrivastava, Vijay Jagtap, Sanjay Guha, Tarun Jasani, Parvati Nair, Menaka Bora and many more.

All events take place at ; Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon CR9 1ET Phone ; 0208 253 1022 Full programme details from ; www.museumofcroydon.com and www.londonsitarensemble.co.uk

Royal Asiatic Society Event
Please follow this link Journey to Manipur to view details of this event.

Ashni Art Gallery
Ashni Art Gallery is the latest gallery in London which specializes predominantly in Indian Art of the highest quality both past and present. It has a varied collection of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art. Please follow this link Ashni Art Gallery to keep up to date with their current and future exhibitions.