Event Details

The Gallery of Upside Down Women by Arundhathi Subramaniam
A Dramatised Reading and Discussion

An NCPA Library Presentation

Leading Indian poet Arundhathi Subramaniam will be joined by prominent theatre actors, Shernaz Patel and Anahita Uberoi, in a session of reading and discussion, based on Subramaniam’s new collection of poems The Gallery of Upside Down Women.

Wandering through these pages are some extraordinary women—women who vault nimbly over borders, walk naked, walk aslant, and sometimes upside down. Blurring the divide between the historical and the imaginary, they point to an emerging world that might need a new set of skills: how to find the right nicknames, how to ‘gatecrash into the present’, how to ‘go skinny-dipping in the self’. This book marks the culmination of Subramaniam’s trilogy on the theme of the sacred and the feminine.

Described as ‘one of the finest poets writing in India today’, Subramaniam has authored 15 books of poetry and prose. Shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2014 and winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2020, her books include, most recently, the prose work, Women Who Wear Only Themselves and the landmark Penguin anthology of Indian female mystic poetry, Wild Women.

Patel has been a leading theatre actress and producer for over 40 years. She works in Indian cinema, web series and television, and is a sought-after voiceover artiste and voice coach.

Uberoi is an acclaimed actor, director, producer and creative consultant who has worked in Indian theatre and film for over four decades.

Entry free on a first-come-first-served basis.