LOOK, WHO'S IN TOWN....

Whoever said nothing literary happens here, should take a good look at this.
After hosting Shashi Tharoor and Shobhaa De, they've got Anita Desai.
Call it a literary coup and mark Aug 23, 6:30pm for another literary evening to remember.

WRITERS FESTS: PICTURE SPEAK

SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL, August 2005:
With Luxmi Pamuntjak & Suhayl Saadi




UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, September/October 2005:
With Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje, Festival Director, Janet de Neefe and author Nury Vittachi

Moderating the one on one with Michael Ondaatje

Passages From India with Amitav Ghosh and Randhir Khare


BYRON BAY WRITERS FESTIVAL, August 2006
Asian Literature Panel featuring Jane Camens, Richard Oh, Ketut Yuliarsa, Nury Vittachi and yours truly

Moderating the session with Nury Vittachi and Sabine Amoore-Pinon


UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2006:
With Anita Desai, Meira Chand and Shalini Akhil


With Tarun Tejpal, Kunal Basu and Elmo Jayawardena


Literary Lunch with the entertaining Foreign Correspondents - Eric Campbell and Christopher Kremmer


A Conversation with the authority on food - Madhur Jaffrey


Going behind the scenes with Festival Directors Janet de Neefe (Ubud), Jill Eddington (Byron Bay), Nury Vittachi (Hong Kong)


GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL, January 2007:
The Writing Workshop


The Spotlight on Kiran Desai (pity the flash didn't work for this one!)


Finally, happy writers and festival directors all....
Romesh Gunesekera, Janet de Neefe, Geoffrey Dobbs, Kiran Desai and Suketu Mehta

UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, September 2007:
They don't make them any nicer than her or her mother....






Literary Lunch with Richard Flanagan & Adib Khan





Never a dull moment when Manuka and Nury are around

AT WRITERS FESTIVALS: AUG 2005-DEC 2007

SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL, AUGUST 2005
Moderator
One on One with Tarun Tejpal
Panel Discussion with Suhayl Saadi, Luxmi Pamuntjak, Felix Cheong and Ouyang Yu

UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, 2005
Moderator
One on One with Booker Prize Winner Michael Ondaatje
'Passages from India' - With Amitav Ghosh and Randhir Khare
Poetry reading at Mosaic
Love Debate with Irina Dunn (we were the winning team!)

BYRON BAY WRITERS FESTIVAL, AUGUST 2006
Moderator
In Conversation: Next Generation: Stories for a Globalised World with Hong-Kong based Nury Vittachi and his translator Sabine Amoore-Pinon
People and Places: India and Bangladesh: Discussion with Christopher Kremmer and Adib Khan
Panel Discussion on Asian Literature, Asian Markets: What is being written, published and read together with Nury Vittachi, Richard Oh, Ketut Yuliarsa and Jane Camens

UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, 30th SEPTEMBER-3rd OCTOBER 2006
Moderator
Saturday 30th September at Indus
Writing Across Place, Time and Identity
Writers discuss their experiences living between cultures and the struggle for identity and belonging when you live in someone else's world.
Shalini Akhil, Meira Chand, Anita Desai with Deepika Shetty.

Sunday 1st October at Indus
People And Places : India, Sri Lanka And Beyond
Fasten your seatbelt for an afternoon of high adventure with some of South Asia's finest literary talents.
Elmo Jayawardena, Kunal Basu and Tarun Tejpal with Deepika Shetty.

Monday 2nd October at Alila, Ubud
Literary Lunch: A Foreign Affair
Intrepid foreign correspondents, Christopher Kremmer and Eric Campbell join Deepika Shetty to take you on a three-course magic-carpet ride through Afghanistan, Iraq and other frontlines and forbidden cities at the Alila Ubud.

Monday, 2nd October at Left Bank Lounge
Blogging: An Insider's View
Ardent bloggers discuss their blogaddiction and speculate whether bloggers will inherit the earth!
The discussion that features Dina Zaman, Sharon Bakar and Jeremy Wagstaff will be led by Deepika Shetty

Tuesday 3rd October at Indus
In Conversation
Acclaimed actress and world authority on Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey, shares spicy stories from her life with Deepika Shetty.

Tuesday 3rd October at Left Bank Lounge
Behind The Scenes
Deepika Shetty helps Festival Directors Janet de Neefe (Ubud), Jill Eddington (Byron Bay), Nury Vittachi (Hong Kong) spill the beans.

GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL - 11th-13th JANUARY 2007
11th January at Lunuganga
Conversations on the Writing Life Featuring Yasmine Gooneratne
University professor, literary critic, editor, bibliographer, award winning novelist, essayist and poet, Yasmine Gooneratne will give us insights into her life as an author having published over 16 books in her career, many of which are internationally commended such as The Pleasures of Conquest which was short listed for the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

When the Setting is the Story
Join author, gastronomic expert & revered actress Madhur Jaffrey and intrepid foreign correspondent Christopher Kremmer as they share with us their favourite place, where they both grew up in very different ways, and how this has influenced them now and then. Madhur Jaffrey is one of the world's greatest authorities on Indian food and author of over 10 cookery books and a memoir, Climbing the Mango Tree. Christopher Kremmer is a foreign correspondent for ABC Australia and author of 3 commended books, his latest being Inhaling the Mahatma.
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

12th January at Amangalla
Writing Across Media with Deepika Shetty
Print/TV/Blogs? What does it take to write across media and is it easy enough to make the shift from one to the next? Is this going to be the age of the multi-skilled journalist? If yes, what will it take to write across media? Learn how to make a 40 second script leap to the realms of a full analysis piece. All the whys of writing answered in this workshop.
Deepika Shetty moved from newspaper writing to a newsmagazine before making the plunge into television. This year she stepped into to the realm of blogs as well and posts her comments at www.readatpeace.blogspot.com
Equally at ease in all media, Deepika epitomizes the new breed of journalism.

13th January
In the spotlight
The 2006 Man Booker Prize Winner Kiran Desai introduces us to her award winning novel 'The Inheritance of Loss' and talks about issues such as globalisation, multiculturalism, inequality and the different forms of love that influenced her writing.
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

BYRON BAY WRITERS FESTIVAL, JULY 2007
Saturday, 28th July
HOME AND AWAY: WHAT SUCCEEDS IN A GLOBAL MARKET
With Nury Vittachi, Garry Disher, Laksmi Pamuntjak
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

Sunday 29th July
The Rise and Rise of the Media Circus: How it's demands affect a writer's life
With Barbara Ewing, Elizabeth Best, James Phelan and Nury Vittachi
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

Sunday 29th July
Blogging: Who Does it, Why and What's In It?
Panelist with Shalini Akhil, Marieke Hardy, Antony Loewenstein and Kate Crawford

Sunday 29th July
Not Just a Piece of Furniture: The Art of Chairing A Panel
Panelist

UBUD WRITERS FESTIVAL, SEPTEMBER 2007
Thursday 27 September
Unknown Roads with Adib Khan and Richard Flanagan
Journey into the heart of our times with celebrated writers Adib Khan and Richard Flanagan. In a world divided, how easy is it to be mistaken for The Unknown Terrorist? Or as Adib Khan asks in A Spiral Road, 'how well do we really know each other?' Join the authors of these laments about the impact of terrorism on real people's lives, for a fascinating, in-depth conversation, about their books, the philosophical issues they raise and more, with Deepika Shetty.

Thursday 27 September
A Kingdom Lost, A Story Found
Ever heard of the Indian Prince who lost it all in the Australian outback? A real life riches-to-rags story told evocatively by award-winning journalist John Zubrzycki. What drew him to the tale of The Last Nizam, how did it impact the fall of Hyderabad and the end of India's great princely state? Get ready for a history lesson like no other in this compelling conversation.
Mod: Deepika Shetty

Friday 28 September
9:00am - 12:00pm.
Workshop: Writing Across Media with Deepika Shetty
This is an excellent opportunity to work with the producer of Channel News Asia's Prime Time Morning and Off The Shelf programs. A highly successful and popular journalist and blogger, Deepika will show you how to write across various media - print, television, blogs - in this new media age. This workshop is perfect for writers looking for ways to construct and pitch a story. Learn to write short TV news scripts and newspaper features; get some hands-on blogging experience. No matter what your interests are - news, features, sports, business and reviews, this workshop is for you.

Friday 28 September
Asia, She Wrote
What are the risks and responsibilities of women writers in Asia? What inspires them? Who do they write for? Is the international reaction to their writing similar or different to that from readers at home?
Featuring: Catherine Lim, Lee Hye-Kyung, Debra Yatim.
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

Friday 28 September
Amandari Cocktail Evening
Out of India with Kiran Desai & Shashi Tharoor
Join Kiran Desai and Shashi Tharoor, for an intimate candle-lit conversation about passion, politics and prose. Kiran, the youngest woman to win the Man Booker-prize and Shashi, a former United Nations diplomat and prolific writer, will reflect, with moderator Deepika Shetty, on the Indian diaspora and whether identity is determined by our place of origin or through the journeys we take.

Saturday 29 September
11:30am - 12:45pm
The Fallacy of Post-Colonial Fiction
"There's nothing post about colonialism. Merely a shift in the modus operandi," says Adib Khan in A Spiral Road. Is post-colonial fiction a construct of western publishers and the literary community? Does it deny writers their history and nationality in order to position their work purely in relation to their colonised past? Writers discuss time, place and history.
Featuring: Rosario Cruz Lucero, Adib Khan, Somaya Ramadan.
Moderator: Deepika Shetty

Sunday 30 September
The Craft of Inspiration
Can writing be taught? Should it be? How essential are creative writing courses to writers wanting to write that bestseller? Get a book published? Deepika Shetty in conversation with Christopher Merrill, head of University of Iowa's Creative Writing Programme.

SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL, DECEMBER 2007
7 December, 2007
BUSINESS OF BOOKS: Online Publishing
Featuring: Samuel Seow, David Parrish and Deepika Shetty (Moderator)
What will the future of the online world look like? Who will own rights to what, and how will money be made? Online publishing has never been so popular and accessible. With a few clicks of the mouse and basic programming skills, blogs are created, domains bought and websites born. With popular networking portals like Facebook and MySpace, every individual has equal chance to fame and success. Our panel of experts addresses three important areas – online marketing (how writers can effectively promote themselves), intellectual property and rights (in the case of being sued), and the growing trend of literary journals.

8 December 2007
In Conversations With
Featuring: David Davidar, Kunal Basu and Deepika Shetty (Moderator)
Writing from opposite ends of the world; join these two acclaimed and talented writers as they share their love for writing, literature and life.

8 December 2007
LIFE ONLINE: World Wide Web of Words - Literary Blogs
Featuring: Deepika Shetty, Sharon Bakar and Ivan Chew
A treat for book lovers out there, World Wide Web of Words – Literary Blogs, brings together online communities of readers and writers. Thoughtful and insightful, our panelists will talk about their favourite page-turners and web pages! Log on and join in the fun!

8 December 2007
Book Launch: Elmo Jayawardena's 'Rainbows in Braille'

FESTIVAL LINKS:
Byron Bay Writers Festival
Galle Literary Festival
Ubud Writers Festival

PROFILE - IN BRIEF

DEEPIKA SHETTY (INDIA/SINGAPORE): Born and brought up in India, Deepika started her career with the daily ‘The Times of India’. She then joined the weekly ‘India Today’, before relocating to Singapore. Here, she decided to give television a shot. Starting off as a Broadcast Journalist with a leading television network, Channel NewsAsia, she moved on to become a Producer with the channel’s breakfast show – ‘Prime Time Morning’. Two years ago, she launched a book segment called ‘Off The Shelf’ to give all things literary a voice. The show is the first of its kind in South-East Asia and has retained its prime time Friday slot since the day it was launched. It has featured several authors, including established ones like Paul Theroux, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Thomas Friedman, Alexander McCall Smith, Jeffrey Sachs, Chitra Banerji-Divakaruni and Neil Gaiman. In addition to author interviews, the segment also tracks literary developments around the world. Deepika has been interviewed extensively on literary developments in South and South-East Asia and is a regular moderator at leading Writers Festivals.

THE OFFICIAL MUG

WHAT THEY SAID

Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka, January 28 2007
The conversation of writing life featuring Prof. Yasmine Gooneratne was an insightful presentation which revealed fascinating facets of the childhood and the kith and kin that form the foundation for the flourishing creativity of the master writer.

Deepika Shetty, who moderated the session, should also be commended for bringing out life experience from the subject. Prof. Yasmine Gooneratne is an award winning writer who has published over 16 books including The Pleasure of Conquest which was short listed for the 1996 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Sharon Bakar aka Bibliobibuli
"Here's the dynamic Deepika Shetty. Her knowledge and enthusiasm about books and writers made her the perfect moderator."

Byron Bay Writers Festival
The Festival is proud to host the visit of Singapore journalist and television journalist, Deepika Shetty, who launched the book show Off the Shelf.

Australia Indonesia Arts Alliance (AIAA)
Deepika Shetty, darling of last year's festival and Producer of Off The Shelf in Singapore.

Zafar Anjum aka Dream Ink
The charming Deepika Shetty of CNA was again compering the panel discussion.

The Tribune, India
From a freelance writer in City Beautiful to the Anchor Editor of Channel News Asia in Singapore, Deepika Shetty's life has come a full circle. And for all her achievements in her career, she gives credit to T.K. Ramasamy, former Associate Editor of The Tribune.

Your workshop was indeed very helpful and extremely interesting to me. You certainly opened my eyes as to the current situation with "blogs" - I had no idea, they were/are so big now on the net and so widely used by so many on almost ever subject imaginable - phew, we live in amazing times, don't we? You covered the three topics within the workshop extremely well and made them very interesting with your experience and knowledge. I thought you did an excellent job with the workshop and I thoroughly, enjoyed it - thank you very much indeed.
- Brian Woods, Byron Bay, Australia

I must say that the session you were a part of on Blogging was one of the highlights of the festival for me. Congratulations on a job well done!
- Adrian Bruce, Ballina, Australia

Thanks for the lovely posting on your blog this morning, Deepika!
- Tan Twan Eng, Author, The Gift of Rain

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed meeting you and thank you again for making that Media discussion at Byron Bay so enjoyable - it is a bit hit and miss when you don't know anyone! and I did enjoy that more than anything else I did, because you chaired it so well and had it all planned.
- Barbara Ewing, Author & Actor

IN THE NEWS

Since I haven't visited this blog for over a year now. Yes, that much is official. And since I've decided to get organised (blogwise) i.e. splitting personal, professional and critiquing lives, this turned out to be just the moment to put some of this together.

It was The Tribune that gave me my first break (that much you already know, perhaps) and The Tribune again that ran a profile. My thanks to the wonderful Editors who have supported me through these years. The late T K Ramasamy and now Roopinder Singh

So the first of my salaams are deservedly for The Tribune
who put us on the cover and ran a feature too.

I met Zafar Anjum at the Singapore Writers Festival and we soon became friends. This was his piece that appeared in Little India

Rebecca Hencshke interviewed me at the Ubud Writers Festival and gave me just the voice with this piece in Asia Calling

Sri Lanka's Sunday Observer popped in a couple of kind words for the session with Yasmine Gooneratne.

Sharon Bakar of Bibliobibuli fame has turned out to be a pillar of support as well as inspiration. Meeting at Ubud was a sheer delight and the start of a literary friendship.

Ditto for Zafar who said this first on Dream Ink

And then there is some of my own stuff that's appeared on the Asia and Pacific Writers Network

On AIAA

Galle on CNA

Galle Lit Fest in the papers

Ubud Writers Festival

Bali Advertiser

THOUGHTS & WORDS

My mortal journey began in circa 1969, in what was then the peaceful state of Jammu & Kashmir in India. Maybe the place of my birth was to determine some of the real life conflicts that I would witness in the vocation of my choice. Armed with a Masters in Political Science, I stepped into the real world as a Journalist with The Times of India, followed by a stint at India Today. That was to determine the rest of my journeys through life. After covering the riots, the plague, the drought in Gujarat, I moved to the safer climes of Singapore. And here each day at work as a Producer with a leading news channel, I re-discover life in all its richness and diversity. One of the biggest joys at work is producing a book segment Off The Shelf that was launched in January 2005.

This foray into all things literary led me to moderate writers sessions at the Singapore Writers Festival in August 2005, followed by the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival in October 2005. Ubud was a dream come true. Here I moderated two sessions. The first one was a conversation with Booker Prize winning author Michael Ondaatje and another one was 'Passages From India' with Amitav Ghosh and Randhir Khare.

2006 will see me heading to Byron Bay in Australia for the Writers Festival there followed by another appearance at Ubud. Lot's to look forward to this year!

KEY INTERVIEWS THAT I HAVE WORKED ON IN THE RECENT AND NOT SO RECENT PAST:

APRIL 2004: AMITABH BACHCHAN: The King of Bollywood gives a one-on-one interview to Prime Time Morning at the launch of IIFA in Singapore

JUNE 2004: IIFA Ceremony. A whole series of interviews with Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Mani Ratnam, Shekhar Kapur, Shah Rukh Khan,Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherji, Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, Shankar Ehsaan and Loy, Manish Malhotra, Shreya Ghoshal,

7th OCTOBER 2004: FAROOQUE SHAIKH & SONALI BENDRE: Live in studio interview. They were in Singapore to perform Javed Siddiqui's 'Aapki Soniya'.

NOVEMBER 2004: INDIAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS AT THE ESPLANADE, SINGAPORE:
Interviews with leading Sikh Sufi Singer Dya Singh, Theatre Director Nissar Allana who produced 'Erendira' in Rajasthani

DECEMBER 2004: ADELINE YEN MAH: The author of the 'Falling Leaves', 'Chinese Cinderella' joins us in studio for a live chat.

17th JAN 2005: DIANNE REEVES: Multiple Grammy Award Winner & Jazz's pre-eminent vocalist

21st JAN 2005: HEMA MALINI: One on One interview with Bollywood's Dream Girl

18th FEB 2005: CATHERINE LIM: South-East Asia's most celebrated face held launch the first episode of 'Off The Shelf'

25th FEB 2005: BOOK REVIEWS: I review John Grisham's 'The Broker' and Assistant Professor Gregory K Clancey from the History Department at the National University of Singapore reviews Mark Ravina's 'Last Samurai'and 'The Measure of All Things'

1st MARCH 2005: ANNU KAPOOR: Indian Actor & Host of India's Longest Running Television Show Antakshari

4th MARCH 2005: VIKAS SWARUP: Q & A with the Indian diplomat and author who's debut novel has got Hollywood all excited

4th MARCH 2005: India's big business school IIM-Bangalore opens up a branch in Singapore. An interview with the Director

11th MARCH 2005: RANA DASGUPTA: Phone interview with the critically acclaimed author of 'Tokyo Cancelled'

25th MARCH 2005: ROBERT RYAN: Bestselling author of the 'Morning, Noon & Night' Series.

25th MARCH 2005: SHANKAR MAHADEVAN & HARIHARAN: Produced live studio interview on their charity concert 'Mumbai Masti & Madras Masala'

28th MARCH 2005: Gandhian centre opens in Singapore. Interview with India's Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

8th APRIL 2005: SONU NIGAM: Indian singer, actor & Indian Idol judge

4th-6th APRIL 2005: Globalisation Conference to mark the opening of the Lee Kuan Institute of Public Policy. Interviews with analysts, experts and academics from the US, China and India. Notable interviews: Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution, Kanti Bajpai, Headmaster, Doon School, Vishaka Desai, President, Asia Society

11th APRIL 2005: KISHORE MAHBUBANI: Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the launch of his book.

22nd APRIL 2005: JACK WELCH: Review of his latest book 'Winning' for book segment 'Off The Shelf.'

13th MAY 2005: JEFFREY SACHS: Interview for book segment on his book 'The End Of Poverty.'

20th MAY 2005: CHITRA BANERJI DIVAKARUNI: Live phone interview for the book segment.

27th MAY 2005: VIKAS SWARUP: Makes a stop-over enroute to the Sydney Writer's Festival. One-on-one with the author and the book reading.

MAY 2005 : Who's Reading What? The Ambassador Series.

8th JULY 2005: NEIL GAIMAN, 'The Sandman' tells us why the star-dust stays in his fan's eyes.

15th JULY 2005: Penguin Books marks 70 momentous years in publishing. What keeps the 'Orange Book Prize' bright and shining in today's day and age.

22nd JULY 2005: GAVIN MENZIES: Author of the controversial '1421: The Year China Discovered America'.

24th JULY 2005: USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN, AMAAN & AYAAN ALI BANGASH: The sarod maestro and his sons tell me what drives their music and what is it taking to keep the tradition of sarod alive in this day and age.

29th JULY 2005: TARUN TEJPAL: Journalist extraordinaire and Author of 'The Alchemy of Desire' shares his thoughts on his first book, his passion in life and what keeps the journalist in him going.

4th AUGUST 2005: SHABANA AZMI: Even after power packed performances in over 60 films in a 30 year career, there's no stopping this internationally acclaimed actress. An activist and a UN Goodwill Ambassador as she tells us how she balances all these roles and more.

5th AUGUST 2005: ANDREW MATTHEWS: His books have been published in 33 languages and reached out to readers in over 60 countries. Author and motivational speaker Andrew Matthews tells us what it takes to being and staying Happy.

12th AUGUST 2005: JIM ROGERS: The 'Indiana Jones of Investing' gives us all the the insights from his road trip around the world together with all the 'Hot Commodities' we should be looking at.

12th AUGUST 2005: ANUPAM KHER & ASHA BHOSLE: Insights into the life and times of the critically acclaimed actor and singer.

19th AUGUST 2005: JOHN CONNOLLY: The celebrated crime author shares his thoughts on Charlie Parker and why it pays to never say die. After all this is the man who was rejected 70 times before 'Every Dead Thing' was finally published in 1999.

8th DECEMBER 2005: JEFFREY ARCHER: On his latest book 'False Impression' and why art sells?

27th DECEMBER 2005: MAHESH BHATT: The Director gives us his take on what lies ahead for Indian cinema. Also talks about the Asian Festival of First Films that launched in Singapore.