A literary feast: Readings and interactions with eminent French language authors and their Indian counterparts. This festival will enlighten and entertain audiences across several Indian cities. The “DSC Jaipur Literature Festival”, acclaimed as one of the foremost literary festivals in the world, will present a special focus on French writing.

Eminent French and Indian Architects and city planners will discuss issues of sustainable architectural practises concerning both countries.

These three-day encounters will be an opportunity for exchanges, meetings and debates between French and Indian territorial and local authorities. Various plenary sessions and round tables will cover a large range of issues related to local development : local self-governance, sustainable development, economy, city planning, water management, waste processing, agriculture and heritage. The aim of these encounters is to share knowledge and knowhows, to reinforce existing co-operation between French and Indian local authorities and to engage more French and Indian local authorities into mutually beneficial partnerships.

For centuries, migrants from the South of India have made the Reunion Islands their home. The Colloquium Historum will try to understand the complex links between past and present throughout the history of the Indian Diaspora in this island in the Indian Ocean.

Set mainly in Paris, this is the story of Sadhavi, a married woman, who finds herself intensely attracted to Kanav, whom she meets in Paris. An intelligent woman with a traditional upbringing, she finds herself somewhat alone and emotionally vulnerable.

Priti Aisola was a student of English Literature at the Central University of Hyderabad. She is the wife of an Indian diplomat who, as a result, has traveled extensively. She has lived in France, the Ivory Coast, Syria and Hungary.
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Trivandrum is the capital of the most literate state in India, home of one of the best reading communities. 200+ exhibitors would attract hundreds of thousands of book lovers from all over the state to the Thiruvananthapuram Book Fair 2009. There will be seminars, book launches, book reading sessions etc as part of the fair with well known foreign and Indian participants.

For this first festival of “Carnet de Voyage” (Travel Diary) in India, the association ‘Il faut aller voir’ - host of the now famous biennial of Clermont-Ferrand - is a partner of the Embassy of France in India. Explorers, artists, writers, travelers have penned down their travels. Boards naturalists, ethnologist diaries, scientific surveys or simply impressions of travel, all these logs mark a historic and artistic journey of a particular literary style. Be it autobiographical pieces or memoirs of voyage, the book takes a particular view on the world at a given moment of time.

‘Pondichéry 1910-2010, Photography and Writing’ presented by Marcel Fortini, photographer, and Jérôme Camilli, writer and journalist. Both are residing at Pondichery and preparing a work on the photographic memoirs, a work that is a reflection of memory and time combining literature and photography, as continuity of the work that led to the release of ‘L’ascendant des îles’ and ‘Café de la marine’ from photographs taken by Mathieu Micheli, in which Pondichery was the third stop.

Much of today’s heritage preservation initiatives derives its inspiration from the old photographs in the archives of Pondichery. In the early sixties Pondichery had all the characteristics of a European city with its blend of French and Tamil architecture - very visible in its French and Tamil quartders. It also serves to show case to the public how old heritage buildings were maintained and respected. The history and heritage of any city is based on the images of its past. So this photographic exhibition comes at the right time when there is a renewed interest in preserving Pondichery’s history, architectural heritage and its culture. It would also portray the unique blend of French and Tamil heritage which is the hall mark of Pondichery.

Dominique Wolton is director of research at CNRS and is director of the laboratory, ‘Information, Communication and Scientific Issues’ since 2000. His research concerns, through numerous publications, analysis of the relationship between culture, communication, society and politics. Having written extensively on media, political communication, Europe and Internet, he explores the political and cultural consequences of the globalization of information and communication, major political issues of the twenty-first century.

On the occasion of Bonjour India, Festival of France in India, French and Indian keynote speakers will debate on the global challenges faced by both countries. Notwithstanding their differences, India and France are confronted with similar challenges. The speakers will give their perspectives on a wide range of issues of interest to both countries. This bilateral dialogue will feature the leading policy-makers and intellectuals from both countries. The format of this event is due to two leading intellectual and writer namely, Catherine Clément and Christophe Jaffrelot along with their Indian counter part, Dipankar Gupta and Rajeev Bhargava. As India assumes a leading role in the G-20, at a time when France and Indiadevelop an ever closer cooperation in a wide range of areas, this agora will discuss topics related to democracy, environment, national identity, social issues as well as cultural aspects of both countries.