Babel

Award-winning novelist Kiran Desai is a citizen of India and a Permanent Resident of the United States. She was born in New Delhi on September 3, 1971, and lived there until she was 14, when she and her mother—the noted author Anita Desai—moved to England for a year, then finally to the United States where Kiran studied creative writing at Bennington College, Hollins University, and Columbia.

Kiran Desai's first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was published in 1998 and received accolades from such notable figures as Salman Rushdie. It went on to win the Betty Trask Award, a prize given by the Society of Authors for the best new novels by citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations under the age of 35.

Her second book, The Inheritance of Loss (2006) has been widely praised by critics throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, and won the 2006 Man Booker Prize as well as the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.

Preceding the reading from 7:00—­8:00 p.m.: An hour-long concert of live Indian music by the duo Omkara, made possible by a grant to Hallwalls from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Omkara—Ravi Padmanabha (tabla, kanjira, frame drum) and Naryan Padmanabha (hammer dulcimer, santoor)—is an eclectic duo with music in their blood. Brothers Ravi and Naryan Padmanabha produce an intense and dynamic sound seamlessly blending music of various traditions. The brothers (usually performing with a third brother, Aneal, on acoustic guitar and contrabass) explore classical and contemporary Indian music styles by integrating Eastern and Western instruments into a classical setting and allowing for infinite improvisational explorations. Their music is purely acoustic. From traditional folk to the outer limits of the avant-garde, Omkara navigates freely between many worlds. As a trio, they collaborated with Sri. Nanda Kumar to complete the self-titled CD Omkara in 2005. The duo plays a variety of musical instruments, including the dulcimer, santoor, frame drum, tabla, kanjira, gopi-chand, and morrsing.

Besides major grant support from The John R. Oishei Foundation, the organizers of Babel thank Artvoice, Buffalo Spree, & WBFO 88.7 for their media sponsorship; Righteous Babe Records for the use of Asbury Hall at Babeville; Talking Leaves…Books; The Mansion; and New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and Erie County, for their support of Just Buffalo's and Hallwalls' programs.

Some publications related to this event:
April, 2008 - 2008