[Reader-list] VN Performance-launch, Delhi

[Vivek Narayanan]

Dear Friends,

This Wednesday, 29 November, at 7 pm, I'm doing a 
reading/performance/whatchamacallit at the British Council Delhi to 
launch my first book of poems, Universal Beach. It will be a close 
collaboration with Sophea Lerner on sound, and is the first of a poetry 
season at the British Council featuring UK and local poets. We plan to 
make it enjoyable and it will be honest. There will be no fake British 
accents. After the performance, there will be a reception with things to 
cool and warm you.

If you did get an invitation in the post from the British Council, 
please carry it with you-- it will admit two.

If you didn't get a postal invite, and you think you might come, please 
do RSVP Kavita Puri Arora at the British Council, by calling or emailing her
( Kavita.PuriArora at in.britishcouncil.org / 41497261 ) *before 2pm on 
Wednesday* . She will put your name on the guest list. Security will 
likely be strict, so this once, please leave your home-made bombs at 
home. Guns may be fired in appreciation of the poetry at later, outdoor, 
venues, but sadly not here. Please note also that author photographs 
will not be allowed: they steal your soul.

Blurbs &c follow below. Do forward this mail to anyone you think might 
be interested.

Thanks
Vivek

Wednesday, November 29, 2006; British Council Delhi on Kasturba Gandhi Marg

Vivek Narayanan will read and perform from his first collection, as well 
as new poems from his second collection in progress, Lectures in Indian 
History. Sound by Sophea Lerner. Lights by Shankar Arora.

Narayanan’s first book of poems, Universal Beach, was published in 2006 
from Harbour Line (Mumbai). His poems have appeared in Indian and 
international journals and anthologies since 1994. In addition to 
publication, he has been working on the performance of his work since 
1995. He was born in Ranchi in 1972, grew up in Lusaka, Zambia, studied 
in the US, and is currently based in Delhi, where he works at 
Sarai-CSDS. Currently he is also a staff writer for the quirky British 
“non-literary literary magazine”, The Enthusiast ( 
www.theenthusiast.co.uk ) and Associate Editor at the Boston-based 
international poetry annual, Fulcrum ( www.fulcrumpoetry.org ).

'Soon the world will know of a daring, vigorous, sexy, humane, wise and 
traveled poet. It will find in Universal Beach a remarkable formal 
control, and an equally remarkable free-verse nonchalance. Narayanan has 
a noise all his own; a voice, happily, exceeding the limitations of voice.'
--David Herd

"What is more interesting is the way Narayanan performed... [He] doesn't 
just recite his poems, he acts them out, complete with strong vocal 
inflexions, chanting and hand gestures."
--Jai Arjun Singh, in the Business Standard Weekend and the Jabberwock blog.

“Vivek Narayanan’s poems remind me of a thriving port-city, where 
diverse tongues are spoken… And then there are moments of luminosity, 
when the word becomes the bearer of hope and redemption... by 
challenging us into insight with a jaggedness of phrase, a treacherously 
ambiguous grammar, and a demanding musicality."
--Ranjit Hoskote, from the jacket blurb for Universal Beach

-- 
Vivek Narayanan
Sarai: The New Media Initiative
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road
Delhi 110 054