Sep 19 2026 to Sep 19 2026 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Lucknow is no longer quite the city it once was: a place of old-world grace, Urdu poetry, and tehzeeb, now reshaped by market capitalism and communalism. This conversation, centred on the novella Homecoming, explores what it means for India to undergo one of the largest urbanisations in history. With cities and culture morphing into unrecognisable, and sometimes alienating, new forms, what makes a space worth belonging to?

Beyond the novel lies a larger question of language tied to belonging: how lived experience is shaped by the language spoken in a place, a thread the author has long explored. The conversation will also examine the exchange between author and reader, asking what spaces writing can leave for imagination to fill.

Venue: Seminar Halls
Speakers

Omair Ahmad
Author
Omair Ahmad is the author of the acclaimed novels Encounters, The Storyteller’s Tale, Jimmy the Terrorist (winner of the Crossword Award for Fiction and shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize), Tall Tales by a Small Dog (shortlisted for the Crossword Award for Fiction) and the nonfiction book Kingdom at the Centre of the World: Journeys into Bhutan. He is also a prominent columnist and political and social commentator.

Sumana Mukherjee
Writer & Editor
Sumana Mukherjee is a writer and editor based in Bangalore.