India - Australia | The Bookwallah tour

The Bookwallah will take six writers from Australia and India, and an ingenious travelling library, across India by train. Brought together for the journey by Asialink, the writers will discuss their latest books, and seek out stories, conversations and connections along the way. They’ll appear at events like the Mumbai’s Literature Live!, dine with Indian writers in their homes, talk with key thinkers and visit some of India’s most thought provoking places. The Australian travellers will be novelist Michelle De Kretser, whose award-winning novels have been published across the world and translated into several languages; Kirsty Murray, a successful author of nine novels including The Lilliputians, a gripping true story set in India, Australia and Southeast Asia in 1910; and writer, journalist and media personality Benjamin Law, whose work is published in books, magazines and websites in Australia and worldwide. The Australians will be joined by Indian poet Sudeep Sen named by BBC Radio as ‘one of the finest younger English-language poets in the international literary scene’; novelist and literary critic Chandrahas Choundhury, whose novel Arzee the Dwarf was shortlisted for the Commonwealth First Book Award; and journalist and fiction writer Annie Zaidi, author of Known Turf, short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword book awards (non-fiction, 2011). The travelling party will take on their journey a unique piece of luggage — a portable, pop-up library. Veteran Indian designer Soumitri Varadarajan and Australian designer Georgia Hutchinson have created a series of exquisite custom-made suitcases that transform into bookcases and will be filled with hundreds of new Australian books. Part library, part art installation, visitors can browse, sit and read, or take part in intimate library events. Books from the library will be donated to universities and local libraries along the way.