Visit of Latin American writers to India

Last week, Sahitya Academy organised a workshop on
" Myth, magic, History : contemporary fiction in India and Latin America "

Five Latin American writers attended this workshop.
Jorge Volpi and Montmeyer of Mexico, Jaime Collier of Chile
Gregory Zembrano of Venezuela and Rodrigo Montoya Rojas of Peru.

Jorge Volpi was the guest of honour in the Academy event. he belongs to the new generation of writers ( crack generation !), moving consciously away from the magical realism for which latino writers became famous. Volpi's discourse was lively.

What impressed me was the knowledge and interest of Mr Satchidanandan of the Sahitya Academy in Latin American literature. Prof Ganguli of JNU spoke eloquently displaying his profound expertise on latin American literature. He is the most authentic and knowledgeable expert on Latino literature in India, to my knowledge.

The Academy proposes to translate some of the works of Latino writers directly into Indian languages. In 2005,they published an anthology of latin american and caribbean poems in Hindi in collaboration with the embassies in delhi.

Pity ... i could not attend more sessions or interact with the writers.

In the same week, we had the visit of a Chilean Senator Jaime Gazmouri at the invitation of the Indian parliament.
During this visit I discovered that Mr Shahid Siddiqui Rajya Sabha MP from Samajwadi party has read many Latin American authors and is knowledgeable and interested in this exotic region.