River crossing

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Cordially invites you for

1. An interactive session with Prof. David Dabydeen University of Warwick, UK, and Ambassador to UNESCO for Guyana, on his latest book THE FIRST CROSSING an edited version of the diary of a medical doctor who traveled in the first immigrant ship to Guyana from Kolkata in 1838.

indo-guyanese-victims

2. Release of Book on what happened to 250 Indians who came back on the last repatriation ship from Guyana to Kolkata in 1955. Written by Ms. Nalini Mohabir, University of Leeds , UK , published by IGNCA.

3. Migration of Roma from India : A dance performance by Ms. Simona Jovic , Serbia

PROGRAMME

DATE

MONDAY 21 JANAURY 2008

VENUE

AMPHI THEATER, IGNCA, JANPATH

400 pm

Welcome Address

410 pm

Keynote Address: Dr.K.K.Chakravarty, Member Secretary, IGNCA

425 pm

Reading by Prof. David Dabydeen from his latest book

THE FIRST CROSSING

500 pm

Interactive Session with Prof. David Dabydeen

515 pm
Release of Book written by Ms. Nalini Mohabir

Vote of thanks

530 pm

TEA

600 pm

A dance performance by Ms. Simona Jovic , Serbia

on Migration of Roma from India with

Indian dancers and musicians

About the Presenters:

DAVID DABYDEEN

David Dabydeen was born in British Guiana (now Guyana ), and left for England in 1969. He read English at Cambridge , graduating in 1978 with the University's Prize for Creative Writing (the Quiller Couch Prize), the first time it was awarded. Professor Dabydeen's first book, Slave Song, was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1984 and he has subsequently published five novels and two volumes of verse. He was awarded the 2004 Raja Rao Award for Literature. Professor Dabydeen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Guyana 's Ambassador/Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. He will be speaking about his most recent publication, his discovery of the diary of Theophilus Richmond, the doctor aboard the first ship in the 'coolie' trade which involved several hundred thousands of Indians being shipped from India to work in the sugar plantations of Fiji , Mauritius and the Caribbean . Please visit the University of Warwick ’s Centre for Translation & Comparative Cultural Studies website for more information:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs/staff/dabydeen/

NALINI MOHABIR

Nalini Mohabir is currently a PhD Student at the University of Leeds , School of Geography in the UK . Her research focuses on the M.V. Resurgent, the last ship to transport ex-indentured labourers from the Caribbean back to India in 1955. This ship was the last colonial connection between India and the Caribbean .

SIMONA JOVIC

Roma dancer, signer and actress, Simona Jovic, has Serbian and Czech origins, and she grew up in the Former Yugoslavia. During her childhood, she was surrounded by Romany culture, and very young she started travelling in order to meet Roma people from all around the world. That's how she specialized herself in music and dances of the Rroma.

Please see her website for more info: http://www.simonajovic.com

For details contact

DIASPORA CULTURAL RESOURCE CENTER

Suresh Pillai, Head of Diaspora Programme

CV MESS, JANPATH, NEW DELHI 110001
Phone: 011 23386022 Fax: 23388280 Mobile : 9910357997
Email: info@igncadiaspora.com Web Site: www.igncadiaspora.com