-Chandigarh : The Khushwant Singh Literary Festival, KSLF, running into the seventh edition in London, makes a resounding debut in Oxford with a message of building bridges at a time of strife and struggle.
The event brought to life many of Khushwant Singh’s passions and concerns. The preservation of our heritage and ecology, ties between nations, particularly India and Pakistan, the poetry of South Asia.
As the KSLF staged, its seventh edition, in collaboration with the Oxford University and the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, among many other partners the entire dialogue and narrative was a tribute to the prolific and iconoclastic author Khushwant Singh’s values, and this year’s theme is “Humanity Across Borders”.
he first session featured young India novelist and literary agent Keshava Guha, who discussed his second book, The Tiger’s Share, with novelist and Sommerville alumna Francesca Kay. The book queries contemporary Delhi society, painting a disturbing though engaging picture of ecological disaster and familial rivalries.
Matt Ridley discussed his latest book, Birds, Sex and Beauty, a witty and elegant exploration of recent evolutionary theory, with well-regarded infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Sunetra Gupta. Ridley, the grandson of Edward Lutyens, spoke about his grandfather’s close ties with Khushwant Singh’s father, Sir Sobha Singh. In the subsequent discussion, the panelists discussed the possible origin of the Covid-19 virus, particularly the lab leak theory, which Ridley supports and Gupta disagrees with.
Partnering with the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, the Oxford edition of KSLF strengthened Sommerville College’s longstanding and meaningful connection with India – which stretches back to Princesses Catherine and Bamba Duleep Singh, daughters of Maharaja Duleep Singh, who studied at Somerville in the late 19th century and went on to become prominent suffragettes, and includes the young Indira Gandhi who went on to become the first woman Prime Minister of India.
