Montalvo Arts Center and Art Forum in collaboration with UC Berkeley Institute of South Asian Studies will debut a multi-disciplinary event in October 2019, as one of the largest South Asian Literary & Art Festival (SALA) in the US. 

South Asian Literature and Art Festival is one of the most contemporary reflections of the Literature & Arts from the sub-continent in the US and promises to transform the sylvan Montalvo grounds into a Megalopolis. 

Come and spend the day at Montalvo in Saratoga, California, the artist’s refuge, the artist’s atelier and the writer’s studio! And enter the South Asian Wonderland that revels in telling the stories that may find their roots on the banks of the 4000-year-old Indus River but are narrated in the twenty first century. Art that is taking the old soul of the subcontinent and is emerging with defiance, contemplation, and dignity in the modern times. 

The Montalvo grounds will create a fair-like atmosphere with bookstores and publisher, book-reading, children’s hands on craft activities, writing programs, food stalls, and art related exhibitors, there will be something for everyone and people of all ages. 

The festival will feature highly acclaimed contemporary Indian Art collection and this exhibit will be co-exist along with panel discussions that include Art, Literature, Poetry and Cinema. Plus, local, national and international authors and artists to speak in keynotes, on-panels, and on-stage presentations. 

The Art Walk at Montalvo will feature established artists from its diaspora: 

  • Rekha Roddwittiya, a contemporary and eminent artist whose name is synonymous with a very restrained, yet resounding gaze at feminism 
  • Priyanka Mathew from Sunderlande presents the exhibition Revelations: The Evolution of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, featuring iconic works by Jamini Roy, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Krishen Khanna, Anjolie Ela Menon, Shobha Broota, G. R. Iranna, and more. Exhibition is opens from Oct 6th to 13th. 
  • Dipti Mathur renown art collector and a philanthropist from South Bay in conversation with Prof Sugata Ray from UC Berkeley 
  • Elaborate encounter Deepti Naval, a legendary actor, painter and a poet, in conversation with Prof Harsha Ram from UC Berkeley 
  • Revisiting Gandhi artist Shelly Jyoti unfurls her yards of hand spun cloth 

Writers Row at Montalvo will feature established writers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the USA: 

  • Vikram Chandra, Nayomi Munaweera, Minal Hajratwala and Shanthi Sekaran – established authors from the diaspora 
  • Vikramaditya Motwane – Director, Netflix original Sacred Games 
  • Varun Grover – Scriptwriter, Netflix original Sacred Games 
  • Vikram Chandra – Author, Netflix original Sacred Games 
  • Raghu Karnad – fire side chat with journalist and the Yale Wyndham Campbell award recipient for Farthest Field in Montalvo 
  • Anurag Kashyap – special event featuring highly acclaimed and award-winning director and scriptwriter is scheduled on October 18th. 
  • The emerging genre of “Children’s & Young Adult Writers” curated by KitaabWorld featuring the South Asian young adult writers, graphic novel writers and children’s Writers, is another festival high light. 

FESTIVAL CREDITS

The literature panels: Moazzam Sheikh

The Art Panels and Booths: Kiran Malhotra

The Content Coordination: Ambika Sahay, Mayuranki Almaula, Vikram Chandra

Presentation and Look: Dolly Parikh, Aloki Design Studio

Blog and Literary Creation: Vrushali Zulfikar

Media & Marketing: MUKTA Advertising, Canada 

Special event on Oct 18th at: Montalvo Art Center, 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga CA, From 12 noon to 5 pm 

Follow on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @artforumsf #SALA2019 #artforumsf #SALAfestival www.artforumsf.org 

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