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- SOLD OUT
"I believe it is the responsibility of great universities to
support the arts. This unparalleled partnership between
Columbia, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the
Apollo Theater will yield a unique educational, artistic
and community event."
-Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University
 Interview with Salman Rushdie & President Lee Bollinger Video
All quotations are from the novel Midnight's Children
"Ex-conjurers and peepshow-men and singers...even before I was born, the mould was set. Entertainers would orchestrate my life."
Open Table Rehearsal
(Black Box Theater in Lerner Hall)
March 26 at 7:00pm - SOLD OUT
March 26 at 9:00pm - TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE
Royal Shakespeare Company cast members reveal the process of working on a scene from the play.
Midnight's Children cast members Zubin Varla, Syreeta Kumar, Selva Rasalingam, Anjali Jay and Assistant Director/Live Music Director Aileen Gonsalvez. Co-Sponsored by the Columbia University South Asian Students Association.
Open Table Rehearsal VideoThe Performed Novel
March 30 at 7:00PM (Miller Theatre)
Actors read passages from Midnight's Children. From Novel to Dramatic Presentation
March 22 at 3:30pm (Altschul Auditorium) - SOLD OUT
Members of the creative team who adapted the Midnight's Children discuss the journey from the novel to the stage.
Salman Rushdie, Simon Reade From Novel to Dramatic Presentation Video
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Writers' Roundtable
March 12 at 7:00pm (Miller Theatre)
Writers read from their work and discuss ideas and genres related to Salman Rushdie's fiction, such as magic realism, non-linear narrative, and the relationship between film and the novel.
Michael Cunningham, Vikram Chandra, Farzana Moon, Neil Bissoondath Moderated by Jayme Koszyn.
Writers and Oppression
March 7 at 7:00pm (Casa Italiana)
Writers concerned with the issue of literary and intellectual freedom, including International Parliament of Writers President Russell Banks, debate their views.
Coco Fusco, Eduardo Machado, Michael Scammell, Russell Banks Writers and Oppression Video
High Art and Low Art-The Mix of Language and Class in Literature
March 27 at 7:00pm (Miller Theatre)
"I do not believe in high art, Mian Sahib. Now art must be beyond categories; my poetry and oh the game of hit-the-spittoon are equals."
Two cultural commentators, a Shakespearean, and a scholar on Yiddish language look at the way contemporary and historical writers have mediated between the high and the low.
John Rockwell, Jim Shapiro, Jeremy Dauber, Margo Jefferson, Laura Flanders
Dialogue with Edward Said - SOLD OUT
March 5 at 7:00pm (Casa Italiana)
Co-sponsored by The Student Governing Board of Earl Hall
Moderated by Akeel Bilgrami
Dialogue with Edward Said Video
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Four sessions focus on the history that buffets the Indian subcontinent before and after its freedom at midnight, from the colonial conditions and nationalist legacies of British rule in India to the thirty-year period of the novel: the crises around independence and the partition of India and Pakistan, the formation of Bangladesh, and the period of Emergency under Indira Gandhi.
The Colonial Context of Midnight's Children
March 4 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
Nicholas Dirks
The Colonial Context of Midnight's Children Video
Teach-In on Thirty Years of Indian and Pakistani History: A Tryst with Destiny
March 6 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
"On the same day, Earl Mountbatten of Burma held a press conference at which he announced the Partition of India, and hung his countdown calendar on the wall: seventy days to go to the transfer of power...sixty-nine...sixty-eight...tick, tock."
Gyan Pandey, Aamir Mufti
Teach-In on Thirty Years of Indian and Pakistani History: Bangladesh
March 11 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
Gowher Rizvi, Tariq Banuri
Teach-In on Thirty Years of Indian and Pakistani History: A State of Emergency
March 13 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
Partha Chatterjee - CANCELLED If you purchased tickets for this event, please contact the Miller Theatre Box Office for refunds.
India and Pakistan: Culture, Media, and Civil Rights
March 25 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
The intersection amongst diverse aspects of South Asian society is addressed by a cross-disciplinary group of experts on India and Pakistan.
Anupama Rao, Arvind Rajagopal, Syed Nauman Naqvi Moderated by Leonard Lopate The Majlis Ash Shurah (Islamic Leadership Council) of New York presents Muslim Perspectives on Midnight's Children and Related Topics
March 24 at 7:00pm (Riverside Church)
Free admission available on a first come/first served basis
Tariq Abdur-Rahman (Islamic Circle of North America), Robina Niaz (the Not in Our Name Coalition), Ghazi Khankan (the Council on American-Islamic Relations), Professor Amir Al-Islam (the Muslim Alliance in North America) Religion and Politics
March 9 at 1:00PM (Casa Italiana)
"Note that, despite my Muslim background, I'm enough of a Bombayite to be well up on Hindu stories."
Participants with expertise in the faiths of the Middle East and South Asia talk about religion's inextricable ties to politics.
Amaney Jamal, Rachel McDermott, E. Valentine Daniel Moderated by Peter Awn Bombay -- The Power of Place and the Idea of the City
March 9 at 3:30PM (Casa Italiana)
"Our Bombay, Padma!...The city grew at breakneck speed, acquiring a cathedral and an equestrian statue of the Mahratta warrior-king Sivaji which (we used to think) came to life at night and galloped awesomely through the city streets -- right along Marine drive!"
The centrality of Bombay in the novel Midnight's Children inspires a discussion about the dynamic power of a world city that is as palpable in the imagination as it is in reality.
Gyan Prakash, Janaki Bakhle, Homi Bhabha Moderated by Nicholas Dirks
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South Asia, Salman Rushdie and the Media
March 8 at 1:00PM (Riverside Church)
Journalists and cultural commentators examine the development of the image of South Asians and South Asia in the American media, both before, during and after the "Rushdie Affair."
Todd Gitlin, Sreenath Sreenivasan, Tunku Varadarajan, Mahnaz Fancy Moderated by Sreenath Sreenivasan "A Matter for Us," Post-Colonial Nations and Color Lines
March 2 at 1:00PM (Casa Italiana)
"The Emergency, too, had a white part -- public, visibly documented, a matter for historians -- and a black part, which, being secret macabre untold, must be a matter for us."
The multiple international significance of the color line in formerly colonized nations & its personal and political meanings are discussed by three experts on the politics of race and language and colonial culture studies.
Patricia Williams, Gauri Viswanathan, Manning Marable Moderated by Leonard Lopate
March 24th - April 5th
Opening Event March 24th 6pm-8pm
LeRoy Neiman Gallery
310 Dodge Hall, 2960 Broadway
The Midnight's Children Humanities Festival hosts a visual arts exhibition, curated by Chitra Ganesh and featuring the work of Rina Banerjee and Yuken Teruya. The Broken Mirror will present paintings, sculpture, and installations by eight contemporary artists from South Asia and the United States who investigate the relationship between history and myth. March 24th - April 5th
March 17, 2003 at 6:30pm
Asia Society
725 Park Ave at 70th Street, NYC
$7 Asia Society Members, Students and Seniors
$10 General
This inter-generational panel of South Asians will include those who were involved in the independence movement of India and the founding of Pakistan. Panelists will discuss the history and legacy of these movements and their impact on local and global communities.
For a complete list of speakers and further information call 212-517-ASIA.
Andy Liu, Columbia sophomore, is the winner of the Midnight's Children Essay Competition, which was a program of Columbia's Midnight's Children Humanities Festival. His paper is entitled "Saleem the Fu-gee: Midnight's Children ambiguous relationship to Nationalist Storytelling."
Andy Liu Commentary Video
All programs and participants are subject to change.
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Casa Italiana
1161 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027-7029
Riverside Church
91 Claremont Avenue
(between 120th and 122nd St.)
Assembly Hall
New York, NY 10027
Miller Theater
2960 Broadway
(northeast corner of 116th and Broadway)
New York, NY 10027
Altschul Auditorium
located in the lobby of Columbia University's
International Affairs Building
420 W. 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Black Box Theater
Lerner Hall
Broadway at West 115th Street
LeRoy Neiman Gallery
310 Dodge Hall, 2960 Broadway
(northeast corner of 116th and Broadway) |
