JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL
A reminder: The DSC Jaipur Literature festival begins today and is on till the 25th of January, 2009.
From their website
Entering its fourth year, the festival will be hosting some of the best-known national and international writers including Vikram Seth, Pico Iyer, Simon Schama, Colin Thubron, Patrick French, Tina Brown, Mohammed Hanif, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Coleman Barks, Chetan Bhagat, Charles Nicholl, Hari Kunzru, Michael Wood, Nandan Nilkeni, Paul Zacharia, Prasoon Joshi, Shashi Tharoor, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Tarun Tejpal, Wendy Doniger, U R Ananthamurthy , among many others with music from DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Paban Das Baul.
LEARNING ABOUT CULTURES THROUGH COOKING
Read reviews here, here and here.
MYANMAR NOVELS
Yesterday, we had written about vernacular content and its importance in India.
Today, on Global Voices, we found a link for anyone looking for Myanmar novels. Download e-books by visiting Shwesagar e books.
BOOKS FOR LAOS
Via PaperTigers
Books for Laos is a labor of love that the Cotterills have been involved in for years, distributing books written in the Laos language to schoolchildren in conjunction with Big Brother Mouse, whose image adorns this post. Started by Sasha Alyson, formerly a U.S. publisher and now a resident of Luang Prabang, Laos, Big Brother Mouse writes, illustrates, publishes and distributes books written in the Laos language to children in Laos schools, while bestselling mystery author Colin Cotterill provides scholarship funds to hilltribe children, 75% of whom have no access to schools, so that they may eventually become teachers and return to teach others in their home areas.
Both of these organizations depend upon donations to survive and to carry on the work they have begun. For the cost of a daily latte, a child can learn to read, and can be the joyful recipient of the first book they have ever owned.
LATVIA: BOOK PUBLISHING VAT IS UP FROM 5% TO 21%
Having done all it could to weaken public television (commercial TV is now suffused with dreck direct from Russia, in Russian — even fresh films about the glorious Red Army), the Government decided to deliver a few more death blows to Latvian culture: quadrupling the VAT on books and newspapers and slashing the budget for state radio and TV to the point where only skeletons could remain. (Via Marginalia)
Read more here.