Article content

Indian Summer Festival

July 6 – 15 | Various venues

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Indian Summer Festival gets real with Tales of War and Peace Back to video

Tickets and info: Indiansummerfest.ca

War and peace — there is no shortage of distance between the two, and much to learn about each. In choosing “Tales of War & Peace” as the theme for this year’s 2017 Indian Summer Festival, co-founder and artistic director Sirish Rao felt he was reflecting reality.

“We went to themes a few years back, and if you look around the world right now it seems a time of a lot of frictions, suspicions and divisions presenting as pressing issues,” said Rao.

“For us, art isn’t just something you celebrate in the good times but something that addresses the issues around us. It should both chronicle and protest the state of war but also celebrate and hold dear the state of peace.”

Rao had considerable experience with literary festivals in India, and brought that expertise to develop a strong literary component in Indian Summer. This year, in association with the Vancouver Writer’s Fest, the festival presents Man Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy to launch her latest tome The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (June 26, 7 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church).