SAJA is hosting a remarkable literary festival, an evening of readings in Manhattan.
Those reading include Suketu Mehta, Jhumpa Lahiri, Shashi Tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai, Kamila Shamsie, Manil Suri and Meena Alexander. Those mingling include Akhil Sharma, Jonathan Franzen, Kiran Desai, Marina Budhos, Pooja Makhijani, Meera Nair the author, and S. Mitra Kalita. Park Slope is apparently emptying out for the evening.
And the wine and samosas are for a good cause: SAJA is putting together fellowships to report the tsunami in-depth well after the initial reports fade.
The idea is to help a group of journalists… from the U.S. and Canada cover the affected areas SIX TO NINE MONTHS after the disaster and have their reporting available to a wide global audience… A New York Times story… explains it all… “All too often when disaster strikes, the relief mission seems to last only as long as the media attention.”
Update: Please note the new schedule, which has been moved up by two hours.
SAJA Authors Day: Saturday, March 12, Manhattan; $35; CUNY Grad Center’s Proshansky Auditorium, 365 Fifth Ave. / 34th St.; 1:30-2:30pm registration, 2:30-4:30 readings, 4:45-6:00 tipsy schmoozing
