Adrián Navigante

The Forgotten Past as a Future Alternative

Adrián Navigante, born in Argentina in 1971, is philosopher and poet. He studied Classical Philology, Philosophy and Indology in different countries, from Argentina to England, France and Germany. He worked in different Universities such as Freiburg, Marburg, Heidelberg, Vienna and Darmstadt. Apart from his studies in Latin America and Europe, he has been keeping a long-standing relationship with India (focused on Indian Philosophy and Religion) which began in the 1990s and continues until today. He published ten poetry volumes in Spanish and German language and numerous essays on Indian and Western philosophy and religion. Since 2015 he has been working as Director for Research and Intellectual Dialogue at the India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogues (FIND).

aqui thami

how to be soft

Reclaiming Spaces and Identities: A Gallery

aqui thami, is an indigenous artist, she comes from the thangmi peoples of the himalayas. She addresses political and social issues through creating art that is grounded in the act of ‘doing’. The core of her art practice is healing as she works with experiences of marginalisation and resilience, her own and the people she works in collaboration with. in 2018 she received the Inlaks Fine Art Award. Collections of aqui thami’s art can be found in the contemporary art museums and art foundations all over the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Wellcome Collection, and many others. Sister Library founded by aqui thami as an evolving and generative artwork that engages in in-depth reflection on the visual and reading culture of our times is also the first community-run and owned feminist library of south asia.

Aseem Shrivastava

The Modern Condition and the Wisdom of the Earth

Aseem Shrivastava is a Delhi-based writer, teacher and ecological thinker. He holds a Phd in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He currently teaches courses on Global and Indian Ecosophy at Ashoka University. He has taught philosophy at Nordic College, Norway (2001-05). Since 2005, he has been working, researching, writing and lecturing nationally and internationally on issues associated with globalization and its multiple ecological and other impacts. He has co-authored the books Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India (Penguin Viking, New Delhi, 2012), and Prithvi Manthan (Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi, 2016). Aseem writes regularly for many national publications. He is currently at work on a set of three books tentatively called Srishti-Sutra, which bring Rabindranath Tagore’s spiritual and ecological vision into dialogue with the ecological challenges of 21st century modernity.

FIND

ALAIN DANIÉLOU (1907-1994): A Photographic Dossier

The India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogues (FIND) was founded by the thinker and artist Alain Daniélou together with Honorary President, Jacques Cloarec, in 1969, under the name Harsharan Foundation. Their aim was to establish an ongoing dialogue between Indian and European culture beyond the usual prejudices and limitations of intercultural confrontation. Today FIND has two main areas: Artistic Dialogue and Intellectual Dialogue. The ultimate purpose of FIND is to show that Alain Daniélou’s view of life, reflected in the realization of his various talents (sanskritist, musician, philosopher, dancer, painter, translator and artisan), provides an alternative model to deal with the general disorientation of our globalized society and to intensify the meaning of human experience.

Harekrishna Deka

Ideas and Discourses in Assamese Contemporary Literature

Harekrishna Deka is a prominent Assamese writer and has distinguished himself in poetry, fiction and literary criticism. He has also been writing on socio-political issues. He was a member of the Indian Police Service and was the Director General of Police of Assam before his retirement. After retirement he briefly edited the Guwahati-based daily 'The Sentinel' and then became the editor of the prestigious Assamese magazine 'Goriyoshi', from which also he took retirement. He has written more than 30 books. He received Sahitya Akademi award in 1987 for his poetry collection 'Aan Ejon'.

Himanshu Burte

Critical Thinking and Everyday Space

Himanshu Burte, an architect and urbanist, is the Associate Professor at the Centre for Urban Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B). He taught for eight years at the School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS), Mumbai. He has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and has practiced architecture for over 15 years. Burte is a co-founder of Gubbi Alliance for Sustainable Habitat (www.gubbi.org). A former Fulbright Fellow (University of California, Berkeley, 2008-09), he was a member of the Editorial Advisory Panel of Marg Publications, Mumbai (2014-2019). Some of his recent publications are Infrastructure as Space: Development and its (Dis)Contents (Marg, 2019), Urban Parallax: Policy and the City in Contemporary India (Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2018), and Space for Engagement: The Indian Artplace and a Habitational Approach to Architecture (Seagull Books, Kolkata, 2008).

Team LILA

Critical Thinking and Everyday Space

Mangalesh Dabral

“Poets Are the Citizens of Language”

About Touch and Time: Two Poems

Manglesh Dabral is a prominent contemporary Indian poet who writes in Hindi. He has served in Hindi Patriot, Pratipaksh and Aaspaas in Delhi. He was the Assistant Editor in Purvagrah and the editor of Jansatta. He also worked in Amrit Prabhat. After working in Sahara Samay as Editor, Manglesh joined National Book Trust as an Editorial Consultant after which he joined the Hindi monthly 'Public Agenda' as its Editor. He has published five collections of poetry, two collections of prose, and a travel diary. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award, which he had returned in 2015 in response to the killings of intellectuals in the country.

Rizio

A World Playing Itself Out in the Open

Rizio is a bilingual writer, educationist, governance thinker and the Founder and Patron of LILA. Her engagement and mediation with ideas and words are aimed at initiating and driving a politico-aesthetic discourse relevant to the times and charged with transformative content.She is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Publisher at The Marg Foundation, Mumbai.

Saubhik De Sarkar

Decolonising Bengali Literature in the Age of the Internet

Saubhik De Sarkar is a Bengali poet and translator based in Alipurdar, West Bengal. He published his first book of poems ‘Sheet O Bayosandhir Haspatal’ in 1995. His poetry collections include ‘Ekti Mridu Laal Rekha’, ‘Jatrabari’, ‘Dakhalsutra’, ‘Anugato Buffer’. He has translated Saadat Hasan Manto, Federico Garcia Lorca, Julio Cortázar , Roberto Bolaño, Namdeo Dhasal, Martin Espada and Rudramurthy Cheran into Bengali. He is the recipient of ‘Kabita Pakshik Award’, ‘Mallar Award’, ‘Mallika Sengupta Award’, ‘Shaluk Award’ and participated in Sangam House International Writers Residency Programme in 2019.

Shivani Karmarkar

Choosing Chaos Over Control

Shivani Karmarkar is an anthropologist with specialisation in social development and a background in journalism, research and project coordination. Her experience includes designing and conducting surveys and interviews for academic as well as journalistic projects and developing courses and pedagogic methodologies for adult learning programmes. Having worked as a journalist with organisations like Bloomberg and Cogencis (formerly Newswire18), she also has a natural disposition to engage with diverse people and document their stories.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra

A Quest for Uncertain Selves

Sitanshu is a celebrated poet and playwright, critical theorist, editor, translator and academic. A recipient of several literary awards, including the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award (1987), Sitanshu has been invited to recite his poems at many national and international literary fora. A Fulbright Scholar and a Ford West European Fellowship recipient, Sitanshu is a double PhD in comparative literature and Indian poetics. He has been a professor and chair of Gujarati at the MS University, Baroda and Vice Chancellor, Saurashtra University and has been a visiting professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris and Pennsylvania University. He has presently been elected President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, prime literary institution of Gujarat.

Students of Loka

LILALOKA: A Student Magazine

Loka is a small school with big dreams located in Manikpur village, Bihar. Its students are deep thinkers and talented conversationalists, who present their thoughts with much enthusiasm and a unique perspective. Loka is a small school with big dreams located in Manikpur village, Bihar. Its students are deep thinkers and talented conversationalists, who present their thoughts with much enthusiasm and a unique perspective.

Team Interactions

Building a New Loka: A Short Documentary

Udaya Narayana Singh

The Vulnerabilities and Fluidities of Maithili

An expert in Linguistics, Culture Studies, Translation and Creative Writing, Singh is currently the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Amity University Haryana and a Chair-Professor. He was the Director of CIIL, Mysore and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. Singh had set up the National Translation Mission and the Linguistic Data Consortium for Govt of India at Mysore and Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies (CALTS) at Hyderabad. He taught at Hyderabad (1987-2000), Visva-Bharati (2000-2009), University of Delhi (1985-87), South Gujarat (1981-85) and in the MSU-Baroda (1979-81).With seven collections of poems in Maithili and Bangla, six books of literary essay, besides twelve plays in Maithili – he has translated/edited 16 books and published 250 research papers. He also designed and created 545 documentaries on language, literature and culture of Bangla, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi. He received many awards and honors, including the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award 2017 for poetry.

Volga

Where Do the Public Intellectuals Meet?

As an award-winning writer, Volga introduced a feminist perspective into the literary political discourse of Andhra Pradesh to become one of the most significant figures in Telugu Literature today. Her novels, like Sveccha, Manavi, Sahaja, Kanneeti Keratala Vennala, Akasham lo Sagam and Gulabilu, opened the floodgates for a host of women writers to articulate the doubts and confusions they experienced as women. She has edited various publications on feminist philosophy and political praxis and translated several important texts into Telugu. Presently Executive Chairperson and founder member of Asmita Resource Centre for Women, she has also contributed to feminist literary criticism through her books Atadu Ame Manam, Palikinchaku Mouna Mridungalanu, Sahita, Sankalitha.