Mahindra & Mahindra Limited : Harvard Mahindra Humanities Center partners with Jaipur Literature Festival

Special series focussing on Crime and Punishment to take place featuring

Homi K. Bhabha, Raj Kundra, Kishwar Desai and Jørn Lier Horst

New Delhi, January 10, 2014: Mahindra Humanities Center has partnered with the Jaipur Literature Festival as venue sponsor for the Durbar Hall, as well as bringing world leading academics and crime writers to the world's largest free literary festival.

Based at Harvard University in the US, Mahindra Humanities Center is a crossroads for interdisciplinary discussions among Harvard faculty, as well as encouraging a wider public discourse about the humanities in contemporary life. Their support of the Jaipur Literature Festival furthers their commitment to dialogue on the space between different academic disciplines and how they translate into contemporary society. Their sponsorship will also see a wealth of talent including leading Harvard academic Prof. Homi K. Bhabha, Director of the Center, attend the event.

During the Festival, which runs between 17 - 21 January 2014, the Mahindra Humanities Center Durbar Hall will host a series of sessions on Crime and Punishment, including the opening event The Bangla Whodunnit, a celebration of Bangla crime writing featuring Gautam Chakrabarti in conversation with Rupleena Bose introduced by Homi K. Bhabha.

Other Crime and Punishment events taking place at the venue include How Not To Make Money: The Price you Pay featuring two debut crime novelists, Raj Kundra and Somnath Batabyal, who will look at the art of crime writing with Kishwar Desai.

Kishwar Desai will also be in conversation with one of Norway's leading detective fiction writers, Jørn Lier Horst, a former Senior Investigating Officer, whose debut novel, Key Witness, was based on a true murder.

Also taking place at the Festival will be the launch of the Crime Writers' Association, featuring Kishwar Desai, Jørn Lier Horst and Samantha Weinburg. The trio will join with other crime writers to celebrate the beginning of a collaborative body for crime and detective fiction writers.

In a powerful titled Prisons of the Mind, four writers, Rani Shankar Dass, Preeta Bhargava, Vartika Nanda, Margaret Mascarenhas, will discuss the therapeutic role of creativity within the flawed Indian penal system and the nature of retributive justice with special reference to women prisoners.

Finally, providing inspiration for the series, Homi K. Bhabha will discuss Dostoevsky's classic text, Crime and Punishment, and the nature of accountability, culpability and morality, with a dramatic rendering/enactment by Mahesh Dattani.

Prof. Homi K Bhabha, Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center said, "The Jaipur Literature Festival is the pre-eminent Asian venue for those interested in the Arts and Humanities on a global scale, and the MHC at Harvard is delighted to share in the intellectual excitement of introducing exceptional talents in the fields of literature, art, politics, music, cinema. This year we will present innovative interpretations of the theme of 'Crime and Punishment' as it connects literary and moral concepts with contemporary problems of corruption, violence and the evasion of civic responsibility. These issues will come alive to the audience who will be invited to participate in one of the most crucial problems that faces our nation and the world today.

Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group added, "One of the main endeavours of the Mahindra Humanities Center is to foster collaborations and promote the exchange of ideas and the sharing of scholarly and artistic work. The Jaipur Literature Festival provides us with an ideal platform to achieve this goal as it has been creating ground breaking efforts to popularise literature and the humanities. I am sure this exciting new collaboration will provide new insights into 'Crime and Punishment' and will provoke both discussion and debate."

Sanjoy K. Roy, Producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival commented, "We are thrilled to welcome Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center as a partner for the seventh Jaipur Literature Festival. Their support will allow us to keep the Festival free and open to all, whilst Prof Bhabha's participation in a series on Crime and Punishment will, I am sure, challenge the understanding of these two concepts in contemporary India. We are looking forward to a long partnership with Mahindra Humanities Center and are thankful for their support."

- ENDS -

For more information on the Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Edelman India:

[e-mail]/ [e-mail]

About The Jaipur Literature Festival

The Jaipur Literature Festival is the world's largest free literary festival, celebrating national and international writers, and encompassing a range of interests including film, music and theatre. The festival has already hosted some of the best-known national and international writers including Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, John Berendt, Kiran Desai, Christopher Hampton, Ian McEwan, Vikram Seth, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Pico Iyer, Simon Schama, Thomas Keneally, Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Chandra, Anoushka Shankar, Michael Frayn, Stephen Frears, Alexander McCall Smith, Donna Tartt, Tina Brown, Shashi Tharoor, Mohammed Hanif, Paul Zacharia, among many others. The Directors of the Jaipur Literature Festivals are William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale and the festival is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy and Sheuli Sethi of Teamwork Productions.

Website: http://www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org

About Mahindra Humanities Center

The Mahindra Humanities Center is a crossroads for interdisciplinary discussions among Harvard faculty, faculty from other area institutions, graduate students, undergraduates, and the public. It sponsors lectures, panels, readings, conferences, workshops, and seminars on a wide range of topics. It also supports informal occasions for the exchange of ideas and the sharing of scholarly and artistic work. The Mahindra Center seeks to foster collaborations between the humanities, social sciences, and sciences in the belief that the humanities make a unique contribution in establishing -- through interpretation and conversation -- communities of interest and climates of opinion.

About Teamwork Arts

The Indian arts management company, for India and the world.

The arts of India are unrivalled in their depth, diversity and mystery. To showcase this work to diverse audiences requires a deep understanding of our arts, an acute sense of relevance in programming, and an unflinching attention to organizational detail. Above all, respect and love for the artist. 

For over 24 years, Teamwork has presented the finest of Indian performers, writers and visual artists to the world and our very own loved nation. Every year, we produce 21 performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals in 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and USA.

Teamwork produces Asia's biggest literary gathering - the annual Jaipur Literature Festival - as well as the Hay Festival in Kerala. Going Solo International Theatre Festival, World Sacred Music Festival, Concert For Freedom, Mehrauli Fringe Festival, Food & Literature Festival as well as festivals in Sweden and Turkey are the new and upcoming festivals for 2013-2014.

Website: www.teamworkarts.com

For further details contact Edelman India:

Ambereen Shah                                                                     Ankita Chopra                      

Mob.[phone]                                                            Mob.[phone]

E-Mail: [e-mail]-Mail: [e-mail]