A group of Indian writers is participating in an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to promote public dialogue about HIV/AIDS in the country and abroad, the Hindustan Times reports. According to the Times, 15 writers will visit communities and families affected by the disease to explore different aspects of India’s epidemic.Parmeshwar Godrej, who is closely involved with the project, said the authors’ works will be similar to news magazine articles and compiled together. The anthology will be published in August with a foreword by Indian writer Amartya Sen. Authors participating in the project are Salman Rushdie, William Dalrymple, Nalini Jones, Vikram Seth, Kiran Desai, Amit Chaudhuri, Siddhartha Deb, Nikita Lalwani, Sonia Faleiro, Shobhaa De, Jaspreet Singh, Siddharth Dhanvant Shangvi, C.S. Lakshmi, Sunil Ganguly and Mukul Kesavan, the Times reports. The Gates Foundation said it hopes the initiative will humanize the epidemic, according to the Times (Bhayana, Hindustan Times, 1/19). According to estimates released earlier this year, about 2.5 million people in India were living with HIV/AIDS in 2006 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/21/07).
Now that I have a few minutes, I should also add that some of these authors are really, incredibly talented authors, personal favorites even. I just finished Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, and have to say it’s an incredible experience to read for the variety of stories beautifully blended into this one. It is definitely a new resident of the favorite books list. Kiran Desai wroteThe Inheritance of Loss, which I loved for the beautiful imagery. It will be exciting to see these two, among some of the others (Vikram Seth, as well, holds his own, as does Amit Chaudri), dedicate their talents to promoting dialogue on a (sadly) rather taboo issue. Since the list seems to include members of the Indian diaspora, I wish -surprise surprise- Jhumpa Lahiri could get involved…and on the Indian side, Arundathi Roy, I’m sure, could do an incredible job with her writing talent.
On a somewhat related note, I recently read Danticat’s Brother, I’m Dying, and really appreciated her reflections on her family’s experiences in Haiti and in the U.S. Despite all of the Paul Farmer-esque books on the subject, I was surprised by how many of this woman’s stories related to health (perhaps the title should have given me a clue…), the knotted intertwining of physical and political struggles that facilitated so many jails, the contrast of her own life story maturing into adulthood, family and career as an immigrant to the U.S. A slightly different perspective to those of a physician or academic of the social sciences sort, but powerful in that. Simplicity, but effective simplicity.
I’m looking forward to seeing the styles the above writers choose, and hope they do effectively create dialogue beyond the intellectual set that will read the stories themselves.
(thanks, James)
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