City authors headline at South Asian literary fest
SHOWCASE DEDICATED TO POETS, WRITERS AND BROADCASTERS
TWO authors from Leicester are to headline a literary festival dedicated to writers, poets and broadcasters of South Asian descent.
DESIblitz Literature Festival will take place in Birmingham from Saturday to October 1, and will feature Bali Rai and Farhana Shaikh.
Born in Leicester to Punjabi parents, Bali has published more than 40 culturally diverse young adult, teen and children’s books.
His latest book, Mohinder’s War, is set in Second World War France, when a young French girl meets Mohinder, an Indian-born RAF pilot.
Bali will be taking part in a panel discussion, Diverse Characters Matter, with fellow children’s authors Serena Patel, Monika Singh Gangotra and Sita Brahamchari.
Farhana is a writer, publisher and journalist born in Leicester and who lives in the city with her two children and husband.
She is the founder of Te Asian Writer, an online magazine championing Asian literature and also established an independent press, Dahlia Publishing, which aims to nurture regional and diverse writing talent.
She will be running a panel discussion about Women of Colour in Publishing.
DESIblitz will feature a mix of inperson and digital events. Most are free.
According to the organisers, DESIblitz.com, launched three years ago, has launched the careers of more than 40 British South Asian journalists.
Festival director Indi Deol said: This is the third annual literature festival curated and produced by DESIblitz.com.
“As in previous years, the aim of the festival is to provide a platform for new voices from within the British South Asian writing community, as well as feature existing British South Asian voices, who are already successful as role models.
“As well as aiming to inspire new creative writers, it provides an opportunity to highlight the way writers of South Asian descent have contributed to the literary canon across the world.
“It has never been more important to showcase the incredible and multifaceted talent of Britain’s South Asian literary community.”