A note from the publisher

Patience. Proud core of the sun. Blinding light of Faith. And Hope. White and blazing. Undefeated. Unfazed. Refusing to give up. Relentless warrior. Battling the night. Day after day. Not without self-doubt. Or questions that raise formidable issues. Issues that churn one's ability to stay steadfast to one's cause. Causing confusion. Sometimes anxiety. Is what I do going to yield fruit? Results? Change? Did I not take the path I have chosen because I wanted to change things? Of course a thinking person will introspect. Of course your activism will have to withstand extreme and rigorous scrutiny. From within. And from the world outside. And yes of course you will ask yourself 'what difference do I make?'
 
By all that is true and good in this world you must remember that what you do is not only vital to our way of being both human and humane it is also a lifeline for thousands of women. And men. And children. Across our troubled land. And yes the environment and the air we breathe. Everything after all is connected is it not?
 
Like the rays of the sun that refuse to give up despite the dark that covers them day after day.  So must you simply, and with extreme purpose. Continue. Regardless.
 
Giving up is never an option .


Naveen Kishore, Seagull Books
THE IDEA OF INDIA - HISTORY FOR PEACE CONFERENCE

This conference is dedicated to the memory of PeaceWorks friend and patron
Kozo Yamamura ( 1934 - 2017 )

We look forward to welcoming our speakers and participants to the third annual History for Peace conference.
Monday, 14 August 2017. 6.30 p.m.
In Conversation: Prof. Romila Thapar and Prof. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Participants who have registered for the conference- The Idea of India-will get guaranteed seating at the venue. 
For those who are unable to get a seat in the Satyajit Ray auditorium, we have made arrangements to have the programme screened live at the Abanindranath Tagore Gallery, on the second floor of ICCR. The proceedings will be simultaneously screened there. 




Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Prof Romila Thapar talks to school teachers and 
Prof. Krishna Kumar, Prof. Hari Vasudevan
Dr. Manish Jain discuss History Textbooks and The Idea of India

Wednesday, 16 August 2017
The Un-equivalence of Violence: The Communal Question in Janam's Plays
An illustrated talk by Sudhanva Deshpande

Documenting Displacement
A presentation by T. Shanaathanan on his work based on the Sri Lankan civil war

Joy Pachaua will share her experiences of research on her book The Camera as Witness which lifts the veil off the little known world of Mizoram 

Jerry Pinto talks about bringing marginalised histories alive through literature 


Thursday, 17 August 2017
Vijay Prashad - India in the Ruins of the Present

Radhika Bordia on social media and The Idea of India

Ed Summers on social media as primary source for future historians

Conference Review: The Idea of India by Abeer Gupta
 
In Conclusion: The Idea of India by  Ravish Kumar
 


The Idea of India - An International Conference on Teaching History
14, 15, 16, 17 August 2017

Call us at 033-24556942/43 for any queries

Download the conference brochure here

SEAGULL BOOKS CELEBRATES WOMEN IN TRANSLATION MONTH
'Every day I go up the Goria by myself to dream, to have wonderful dreams! I'll study, work, write! Oh God to be free and alive, even without shoes, without food, without stockings, without, no, no, it's a wonderful time!' 
Ingeborg Bachmann,  War Diary 



We are proud to publish so many women authors, and so many women translators. And will continue to do so.  Explore the work of these wonderful women at  www.seagullbooks.org


SEAGULL AT PRESIDENCY

This month we are showing four exhibitions simultaneously at 
Presidency University, Calcutta.


On the centenary of the Russian Revolution, we present to you Drawings by Sergei Eisenstein and   Tea-Garden Journal and Other Drawings by   Somnath Hore .

'The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.  The Workers of the World Unite!'  
Karl Marx,  Communist Manifesto


SERGEI EISENSTEIN - DRAWINGS



TEA GARDEN JOURNAL AND OTHER DRAWINGS




POSTER WOMEN

An archive of over 1500 posters, put together by Zubaan, from the Indian Women's Movement collected over a period of 18 months from all over the country. The exhibition spans a period of over four decades from the 70's. The exhibition covers areas such as violence, health, political participation, the environment, religion, communalism, literacy, rights and maginalisation.
Poster Women is a Zubaan Project and the entire exhibition can be viewed online at  http://posterwomen.org/Posterwomen/




ISHA UPANISHAD
Translated by Pritish Nandy | Digital Collages by Sunandini Banerjee


JANA NATYA MANCH IN CALCUTTA



The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents Jana Natya Manch, in Calcutta, with three of their powerful productions that raise important urgent issues.
Janam will tour schools with these productions and conduct a workshop for the PeaceWorks Storytelling project volunteers during their visit.

The public performances are at Padatik, to which all are welcome.


Saturday, 26 August 2017. 6 p.m. 
Ujle Safed Kabootar 
kuchh nazmein philisteen ke naam 
A reading performance of poems for Palestine. 
Poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Safi Abdi, Mahmoud Darwish and Nizar Qabbani Translations by Brijesh 
45 minutes. No interval 
Palestine, the land that nurtured three great religions, a land ravaged by a brutal occupation and seemingly perpetual war, the land of a heroic people. The reading starts with a song on Palestine by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and a poem by the Somalian poet Safi Abdi. The centrepiece of the reading is the poem 'Under Siege' by Palestine's best-known poet, Mahmoud Darwish, who died last year. 
The reading is accompanied by a visual essay by filmmaker and designer Sherna Dastur.


Sunday, 27 August 2017. 11 a.m. 
Yeh Bhi Hinsa Hai 
The Faces of Violence 
Hindustani; 30 minutes 
India has been rocked of late by instances of horrific violence against women. The revulsion against this has spilled out into the streets, with a large number of people protesting against gender violence. In one voice the protestors, men and women, young and old, have said that no longer will we remain silent. No longer is the violence of patriarchy acceptable. Janam had first prepared this play in 2005. This version is updated, especially in light of the incident of the Delhi gang rape in December 2012, which brought this issue to a head. 


Sunday, 27 August 2017. 11.45 a.m. 
The Last Letter  
Hindi and English; 13 minutes 
In a short new performance, Jana Natya Manch focusses on the last letter that Rohith Vemula wrote. Three actors intersperse the text of the letter with mainly poetry, to create a moving experience. The performance also takes up other letters, those targeting Rohith. None of the texts is dramatised. In the simple act of literally reading and juxtaposing texts, the actors force us to look within and without, on the singularity of a particular tragedy and on the larger context that punishes a person for the accident of their birth.