AusArts India Literature Tour—or, Why I can't go to the Aurealis Awards

I've got a near-to-final schedule for this trip now, so I guess it's real enough to blog. I'll be taking part in a tour to Chennai and Kolkata at the end of January, and to give us time to acclimatise Steven and I are flying into Chennai a week early, on 18 January.

We plan to spend a couple of days in Chennai, then go across to Kochi and Kerala, then return to Chennai to do two days of Literary Tour, then we'll fly to Kolkata for the Kolkata Book Fair 30 January–2 February.

This is all a bit too exciting. Neither of us has been to India before, although I have stolen its monkeys and elephants for stories.

Other writers on the tour this year (although not all at the same time) are: Thomas Keneally, Judith Beveridge, john Zubryzcki, Alison Lester, Bruce Bennett, Bem le Hunte, Luke Beesley, Kirsty Murray, Graham Reilly, Ron Pretty, Kevin Brophy, Lizz Murphy and Brook Emery.