Renowned and prolific Marathi Dalit writer, intellectual and activist, Sharankumar Limbale will give an afternoon reading, followed by a conversation with translator, scholar and York alumnus Alok Mukherjee (PhD ’04).
The reading and discussion will take place Monday, May 6, from noon to 2:30pm at 280A York Lanes, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend. The event will mark the first occasion of a Dalit writer speaking on campus and is hosted by York’s 
Department of English in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR).
Sharankumar Limbale
Limbale’s work spearheads Dalit interrogation of the modern Indian nation-state, which has repeatedly failed to guarantee the human rights of Dalit communities in the country, more than 65 years after the Indian constitution officially abolished “untouchability”.
He will read selections from his theoretical work on Dalit literature, Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature, and his novel, Hindu. Following this, Mukherjee will engage Limbale in a wide-ranging conversation designed to provide a nuanced insight into the latter’s work and his overall contribution to Dalit literature and politics.
Limbale and Mukherjee will also field questions from the audience and help shed light on the multiple facets of the Dalit intellectual and activist movement, and its rich legacy of intervention in a charged social, historical and political terrain.
Limbale, born June 1, 1956, is a Dalit activist, writer, editor and critic. He writes in Marathi and has several books, including his autobiography, Akkarmashi (2004), published in English as The Outcaste, Hindu, and translated by Arun Prabha Mukherjee; and his critical work, Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations (2004). He is professor and director of Student Welfare Services, Yashvant Rao Chavhan Open University in Nasik, Maharashtra. His most recent novel, Zund, was published in 2012.
To read an interview with the author, click here.
For more information, e-mail ycar@yorku.ca.