A celebration of literature, poetry and the arts — experience readings, performances and conversations with local and international writers, poets and artists at the event series Goethe Darbaar.
Literature allows us to travel without moving, to inhabit other lives and witness transformations that mirror or challenge our own. Novels become vessels through which we explore unfamiliar worlds, empathize with complex characters, and reflect on the decisions that shape human experience.
In this Goethe Darbaar, we welcome two acclaimed authors—Jackie Thomae and Amitabha Bagchi — whose protagonists traverse landscapes of identity, belonging, and change. In conversation with moderator Rishi Majumder, they will discuss how writing becomes a journey in itself: one that reveals, transforms, and connects. The conversation will be accompanied by a dance-theater performance, इधर-उधर (Here and There)by Ashish Karnawat, that poses a fundamental inquiry: Where do we truly belong?
Jackie Thomae, born in Halle/Saale in 1972 and raised in Leipzig, has lived in Berlin since 1989. A journalist, TV writer, and author, her debut book Eine Frau – Ein Buch (2008) became a bestseller. Brüder was shortlisted for the German Book Prize and won the Düsseldorf Literature Prize in 2020.
Amitabha Bagchi is the author of the bestselling Above Average and the DSC Prize winning Half the Night is Gone. He has translated the ghazals of Muneer Niazi into English. His most recent work is a novel entitled Unknown City which is a sequel to Above Average.
REIMAGINING THE PAST: WRITING HISTORY AS FICTION AND NON-FICTION
How do we write history—not just as a record of the past, but as a living narrative that speaks to our present?
This literary evening brings together two acclaimed authors who walk this fine line with grace and rigor: Ira Mukhoty reimagines epic and imperial histories through the lens of gender, power, and storytelling. Anirudh Kanisetti reconstructs the grandeur and complexity of Southern India's medieval empires, blending scholarly depth with vivid narrative.
In conversation with journalist and writer Rishi Majumder, Mukhoty and Kanisetti will explore the craft of writing history—how evidence becomes story, how imagination meets rigor, and how the past is made present.
Anirudh Kanisetti is the author of Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas; and Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire. He writes the Thinking Medieval column for The Print and hosts two podcasts: Echoes of India and YUDDHA: The Indian Military History podcast. Anirudh is currently Honorary Fellow at the Deccan Heritage Foundation. He has won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman, and Tata Literature Live's Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. He was an Open Mind of 2022, and on the New Indian Express' 40 Under 40.
Ira Mukhoty is a best-selling writer of narrative history. She is the author of Akbar: The Great Mughal, Song of Draupadi: A Novel, Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire and Heroines: Powerful Indian Women in Myth and History. Her latest book, The Lion and the Lily, examines the rise and fall of Awadh in the context of the global Franco-British wars. Living in one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, she developed an interest in the evolution of mythology and history, and the erasure of women and other marginal voices from these histories.
Delhi has always been a place of refuge – a city that has welcomed wave after wave of people seeking a future, identity and belonging. Join us for an experience that brings together voices from very different communities who found refuge in Delhi at different times – moderated by Rishi Majumder.
The panel discussion between Rubina Singh and Dr. Veio Pou will explore themes such as migration and displacement, home and memory, and shed light on how cultural heritage, language, food and even material objects are passed down across borders and generations – new traditions emerge while old ones are preserved.
It will be accompanied by a heartfelt and intimate musical performance- Song of Home:
Dr. Sina Fakhroddin Ghaffari from Iran and Abi Safa from Afghanistan—who have made Delhi their home for years – will weave together songs, stories, and memories that speak of the homes they left behind and the home they found in India.
Rubina Singh is a Delhi-based textile artivist and social designer. Being trained in Law as well as Design, she enjoys bringing together these two passions with rights-based textual textiles while also engaging with the subversive feminist histories of embroidery and her inherited love ofphulkari. She enjoys dabbling in projects that push the boundaries of conventional art and design like The Rights Market, The White Paint Archive, Rafunaama, and Se(w)cular Stitches.
Dr. Veio Pou is a literary enthusiast who likes to explore the everyday narratives centered on literature & culture, society & politics, and folklife in the contemporary. His debut novel, Waiting for the Dust to Settle(2020), won the Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature (Fiction) in 2021. He is the author of Literary Cultures of India’s Northeast: Naga Writings in English(2015) and edited the volumeKeeper of Stories: Critical Readings of Easterine Kire’s Novels(2023). Currently, he is an associate professor in the Department of English, University of Delhi.
How do we write about women—and why does it matter? Join writers Anisha Lalvani (Girls Who Stray) and Atharva Pandit (Hurda) in conversation with Rishi Majumder as they explore how literature confronts gender, power, and patriarchy. From resistance to resilience, they reflect on writing female characters and how stories continue to reveal and challenge the gendered realities we live in.
Anisha Lalvani has lived in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and London. She studied English Literature at Mumbai University and has worked on literary projects like Kitaabnama and the Jaipur Literature Festival. She now works in communications at a think tank. Girls Who Stray is her debut novel, published by Bloomsbury India and represented by Jacaranda Literary Agency.
Atharva Pandit is a writer based in Mumbai. His work has appeared in The Wire, Economic and Political Weekly, and other publications. A 2021 South Asia Speaks fellow for fiction, he writes about gender, violence, and memory. His debut novel Hurda was longlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature and won the Godrej Literature Live Best First Book Fiction Award.
Anatomy of Existence: Writing the Human Body, Mind & Soul
What can the human body reveal about our inner worlds and shared existence? Acclaimed German author David Wagner (Lives) and Indian author-surgeon Ambarish Satwik (Perineum: Nether Parts of the Empire) explore the intersection of anatomy, mind, and spirituality through auto fiction, satire, and personal narratives. In this edition of Goethe Darbaar, they delve into these profound themes with Rishi Majumder.
Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular and endovascular surgeon and Director of the Vascular Cath Lab at Sir Ganga Ram hospital and Professor of Vascular Surgery, GRIPMER. He is the author of the critically acclaimed 2007 novel Perineum: Nether Parts of the Empire, a subversive and deviant sexual history of the British Raj. His columns, miscellanies and opinion pieces on a variety of subjects have appeared in many publications, including India Today, The Times of India, Outlook, Open, Tehelka, Time Out and Hindu Business Line. He's currently working on a non-fiction project.
David Wagner, an award-winning German author, is known for works like Lives (2013), exploring his liver transplant experience. His debut My Night-Blue Trousers (2000) brought early acclaim. Wagner writes novels, poems, and essays and lives in Berlin.
Join us for an evocative evening at Goethe Darbaar, where we will explore the dynamic intersections of poetry and identity. This special event features the remarkable voices of Purvai Aranya and Shripad Sinnakaar, in conversation with Rishi Majumder.
Shripad Sinnakaar is an anti-caste poet from Dharavi, Bombay. His poems have been published in The White Review, Indian Literature, Wasafiri, as well as at the Mumbai Urban Art Festival and Nida Art Colony. He is currently an editor at The Ambedkarian Chronicle.
Purvai Aranya is a gender-fluid and genre-fluid artist, writer, and educator. They have an MFA in Creative Writing (with a focus on poetry) from the University of Minnesota. Purvai’s words are published in Vayavya, The Bombay Literary Magazine, and The Indian Quarterly, among others.
Writing Millennial Relationships: Voices from India and Germany
How do millennials view and experience relationships compared to Boomers, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha? Millennials have witnessed the rise of the internet during their formative years, while other generations either grew up with it or without it entirely. This digital shift has shaped how each generation connects and forms relationships. How do authors from India and Germany characterize and describe the differences between these generations?
Join award-winning German author Leif Randt ("Allegro Pastel") and Indian journalist and author Amrita Tripathi ("The Sibius Knot," "Young Mental Health: Mindscape Series") as they explore the distinctive ways their generation navigates relationships, especially in the digital age, in a discussion with Rishi Majumder.
Amrita Tripathi is an author, former journalist, and podcaster who writes contemporary fiction exploring urban realities and fragmented relationships. Her novels include Broken News (2010), The Sibius Knot (2015), and an upcoming release, The Other Sister (2024). She has co-authored several non-fiction books on mental health, including the Mindscape series and Life Interrupted: Understanding India’s Suicide Crisis (2022). Tripathi hosts the #SayAgain podcast, is the founder-editor of The Health Collective, and recently founded Tap In Tribe, focusing on women and leadership.
Leif Randt, born in 1983 in Frankfurt/Main, gained recognition in the German-language literary scene with his utopian novels Schimmernder Dunst über CobyCounty (2011) and Planet Magnon (2015). He followed up with Allegro Pastell (2020), a love story that became a bestseller and has since been translated into 13 languages. The English edition of Allegro Pastell is set to be published by Granta Editions in London in spring 2025, with a film adaptation expected to hit German cinemas in March 2025. Randt is currently working on his fifth novel and manages the platform tegelmedia.net.
Crime & the City
What makes the city a popular setting for crime novels? Beyond compelling plots, what insights do these novels provide about the city's people and its hidden facets? Nilanjana Roy (Black River) and Anita Nair (The Inspector Gowda series) discuss how their work reveals the complexities of urban life, including class, identity, and the workings of law and bureaucracy in India.
Nilanjana is a novelist known for her works including the Delhi noir novel Black River and the award-winning fantasy fiction duology The Wildings. Her columns on books and the reading life are collected in The Girl Who Eats Books, and she is the editor of three anthologies, including Our Freedoms. She also writes a regular column for the Financial Times on the pleasures of the reading life.
Anita, a renowned Indian author, writes across genres including literary fiction, noir, poetry, and children's literature. Her works, translated into thirty-two languages, include Malabar Mind, Goodnight & God Bless, and seven children's books. Nair also wrote two plays and the screenplay for the award-winning film adaptation of her novel Lessons in Forgetting.
Speculative fiction transcends the boundaries of reality, offering writers a canvas where imagination knows no bounds. But why does this fantastical realm often resonate more deeply with our understanding of reality than straightforward realism?
In this engaging event, esteemed author and filmmaker Samit Basu, known for works like "The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport", "Chosen Spirits", "Turbulence" and the GameWorld Trilogy, joins writer Gigi Ganguly, acclaimed for her thought-provoking narratives such as "One Arm Shorter than the Other" and "Bio Peculiar," to unravel the mysteries of speculative fiction. Together with moderator Rishi Majumder, they will explore how speculative fiction serves as a conduit for writers to articulate truths they couldn't express otherwise, hiding profound insights beneath the cloak of the supernatural.
Samit is an Indian author and filmmaker. His most recent novels, published by Tor in North America, are The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport and The City Inside. He’s published several novels in a range of speculative genres, beginning with The Simoqin Prophecies (2003). He also works as a director-screenwriter, comics writer, and columnist.
Gigi has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick in Ireland. Her first book, a novella titled One Arm Shorter Than The Other, was published by Atthis Arts in 2022. Her second book, a short story collection titled Biopeculiar, was published by Westland in 2024. She is currently working on a novel about AI and consciousness.
PENNING LAUGHTER: A HUMOROUS TAKE ON CONTEMPORARY INDIAN SOCIETY
Why is humour such a valuable tool for examining and depicting people and society? What sets apart Indian humour writing? Khyrunnisa A. and Aravind Jayan, distinguished authors renowned for their wit and humour across generations, will provide fresh insights into individual behaviours and societal structures, encouraging readers to see them from novel angles. These topics, coupled with personal insights, will be delved into during discussions with our moderator Rishi Majumder.
Khyrunnisa is an award-winning writer of children’s fiction and the author of the hilarious Butterfingers books. Howzzat Butterfingers! (2010) is the first novel in the series. She created the popular comic character Butterfingers for Tinkle. Her first book for adults is Tongue in Cheek: The Funny Side of Life (2019). The Lizard of Oz and Other Stories (2019), The Crocodile Who Ate Butter Chicken for Breakfast and Other Stories (2020) and Baby and Dubdub (2021) are some of her recent books. She is a full-time writer and lives in Trivandrum.
Aravind is a writer from Trivandrum, Kerala. He is the winner of the 2017 Toto Funds the Arts Award and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2021. His first novel, Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors, was named ‘Best Book of 2022’ by Open Magazine, The Wire, Deccan Chronicle and others. It was also shortlisted for the Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
Everyone’s been talking about Indian rap but how does one define this? What are the themes and subjects it covers and what urgent stories does it tell? What does Rap bring to storytelling in terms of rhythm and rhyme? Where does Indian rap fit in when it comes to an array of Indian literary and creative forms? And finally, where did India’s rap scene come from? What is its history and what are its roots and influences?
Rupleena Bose is an Associate professor of English Literature and published writer, screenwriter, translator and poet whose PhD thesis was on urban music in modern Bengal. She is currently based in Delhi. Her novel titled Summer of Then will be published in the coming year.
Sumit is a tri-lingual rapper and a visual artist currently based out of New Delhi. Roy juxtaposes an aspirational visual universe and the cult of global stardom with quotidian sights and attitudes from his immediate locale.
What will become of us in the future? Will there be even a collective “us”, or will we be billions of “I”? Modern Society can feel busy and lonely simultaneously. The endless ocean of social media and our obsession with self-image may lead to dual realities - a combination of dystopian truths, and utopian lies.
Julia von Lucadou was born in 1982 in Heidelberg, Germany. She holds a PhD in film studies and has worked as an assistant director, a television producer, and a simulated patient. Her first novel "The High-Rise Diver" (OT "Die Hochhausspringerin") was awarded the Swiss literature prize and shortlisted for the Swiss book prize. It has been translated into English, Italian and French.
Ashish Karnawat, a versatile performing artist, combines contemporary and hip-hop dance with physical theatre to create relatable performances that incorporate everyday human behaviors and humor while delivering social and political messages, blurring the line between performer and audience.
Together with comic writers and artists Sarnath Banerjee and Anupam Arunachalam, we explore the symbiosis of art and literature in this issue of Goethe Darbaar. How do words and images intertwine to create profound narratives? Join the moderator Lakshya Datta and the two artists as they delve into the realm of visual storytelling.
Banerjee has authored five graphic novels published by Penguin and Harper Collins, with a sixth in progress supported by a grant from the Berlin Senate. His work has been showcased at prestigious Biennales, Art Fairs, and international shows.
Anupam is a Delhi-based writer, illustrator and comic book artist. His work has been published by Penguin Random House, Tinkle, Pratham Books, Forbes Life, Mint and Campfire Graphic Novels, among others. He is currently working on the Young Pandavas series of children's books, published by Hachette India.
In this edition of the Goethe Darbaar, we delve into the connections between places and stories with celebrated poets and authors Sampurna Chattarji and Janice Pariat. Our moderator, Lakshya Datta, will lead the conversation exploring the interplay between writers and readers, and the harmony between verse and prose.
Janice is an author, soap-maker, knitter, and seeker of forests. Her most recent novel "Everything the Light Touches" was listed in The New Yorker's Best Books of 2022 and won the AutHer Award 2023 for Best Fiction. She teaches at Ashoka University and is based between New Delhi and Shillong.
Sampurna Chattarji is a poet, fiction writer, editor, and translator with 21 published works, including "Space Gulliver," "Dirty Love," and "Wordygurdyboom!," as well as editing the anthology "Future Library" and releasing her most recent poetry collection, "Unmappable Moves."
In conversation with podcaster Lakshya Datta, we welcome economist Shrayana Bhattacharya, author of Desperately Seeking Shahrukh, to discuss her book and explore possible answers to the question: what do women want? The conversation is coupled with a 30-minute play 'Power Within’, directed by veteran theatre writer-director Dilip Shankar.
Shrayana Bhattacharya is a Senior Economist at the World Bank. Her first book of non-fiction Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence was published by HarperCollins India in November 2021 and by Liberty Books in Pakistan in August 2022.
Lakshya Datta is a writer and founder of Launchora, a storytelling platform and narrative podcast company. Lakshya also hosts Jaipur Bytes - the Jaipur Literature Festival podcast. He was named India’s Top Podcaster of 2021 by JioSaavn.
Lakshya Datta is a writer and founder of Launchora, a storytelling platform and narrative podcast company. Lakshya also hosts Jaipur Bytes - the Jaipur Literature Festival podcast. He was named India’s Top Podcaster of 2021 by JioSaavn.
Is a city a place, its people, or its memories? How much of who we are, what we create is influenced by where we come from, where we’ve been? Do we carry our cities within?
In conversation with podcaster Lakshya Datta, we welcome writer and journalist Taran Khan to talk about travel, memories, and the art and artists they influence. Join us for this session accompanied by music and poetry by Afghan artists.
Taran N. Khan is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her work has appeared in publications including Granta, Guernica, LitHub, Al Jazeera, The Caravan and Himal Southasian. Her first book, Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul won the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award and the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award.
Music is a universal language which everyone understands, but very few possess the gift to create.
We know how we feel when we hear a song we love, but what do we know about how that song or melody came together? What comes first to a songwriter - the lyric, or the melody? How does it feel to be on stage with the eyes of the crowd on you? Does a song come from within, or somewhere beyond?
In conversation with Podcaster Lakshya Datta, we welcome musicians Komorebi and Dhruv Visvanath to tell us stories about and behind the music & lyrics!
Komorebi (Tarana Marwah) is an Indian producer, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. She released her first self-titled EP in 2015, after which the act gained mercurial success. Some of her notable performances are SXSW 2022 & 2019, Treefort, Red Bull, Tour Bus, NH7 Weekender including projects for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Dhruv Visvanath is a Singer-Songwriter, producer and accomplished acoustic guitarist from New Delhi. His unique style of playing the guitar led him to be mentioned as one of Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s 30 Great Guitarists Under 30, alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran.
August 15, 1947. Independence. Partition. The birth of a nation.
But what did it mean to become independent? Who was responsible for ensuring that India becomes a country? How were 565 princely states integrated into the Indian Union?
Featuring historian and author Narayani Basu in conversation with podcaster Lakshya Datta, this session will explore the formation of modern India, the legacy of its architect VP Menon - and through his eyes, portraits of historical figures Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, and Patel.
Goethe Darbaar X Freedom also celebrates the launch of Freedom - an online platform commemorating 75 years of India's independence with 75 contributions. Freedom brings together artists, authors and thinkers from India and Germany to explore what freedom means to individuals and societies in a modern democracy.
Narayani Basu is the bestselling author of V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India (Simon & Schuster India, 2020). A historian and foreign policy analyst, her current area of interest focuses on highlighting less-known key players behind the story of Indian independence.
Lakshya Datta is a writer and founder of Launchora, a storytelling platform and narrative podcast company. Lakshya also hosts Jaipur Bytes - the Jaipur Literature Festival podcast. He was named India’s Top Podcaster of 2021 by JioSaavn.
Partition: Love & Legacy is framed to examine the partition of India, and its repercussions, felt across the subcontinent even today. In conversation with Podcaster Lakshya Datta, the session will explore the works of the authors Aanchal Malhotra and Karuna Ezara Parikh. Their work collectively, through fiction and actual testimony both, attempts to heal the wounds left behind by the largest human migration on Earth and to continue to tell stories of love, as opposed to violence, from the time, to aid a future of communal security and peace.
Aanchal Malhotra is an oral historian and writer from New Delhi, India. She is the co-founder of the Museum of Material Memory, and writes extensively on the 1947 Partition and its related topics.
Karuna Ezara Parikh is a poet and writer, former television anchor and model known widely for her activism. Her writing has featured in publications including Vogue, Wire, Outlook, Tehelka and Lonely Planet.
Friday evening is for poetry and conversations! Inspired by short stories of best-selling author Bernhard Schlink, Flights of Love is woven around the idea of love.
Join us for an entertaining evening with our flights of love Vikramaditya and Akhil Katyal, in conversation with Podcaster Lakshya Datta.
Vikramaditya is a teacher and researcher. They have previously worked at Centre for Law and Policy Research (Bengaluru), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai) and Ambedkar University (Delhi). They live and love in Delhi.
