August 26, 2003
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
Anita Pratap, one of India’s most esteemed journalists,
delivers a timely and insightful lecture at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Anita Pratap
- Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other South Asian Flashpoints
- Pratap is the former CNN South Asian Bureau Chief
- Her lecture is part of the series Global Forces in the Post-Cold War World
- Wednesday, October 1
- 5 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- Free event / Parking: $2
- Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
Longtime CNN South Asian Bureau Chief Anita Pratap will present the enlightening lecture Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other South Asian Flashpoints, based on her recent book of the same name, on Wednesday, October 1 at 5 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. This is a free event.
Penguin Books published Island of Blood in late August 2003 in the United States following its publication in India in 2001. The book distills Pratap’s experiences and insights, reaching beyond the headlines to plumb the tragedy and despair that are the consequence of racial and historical prejudice, religious and sexual discrimination, and political and social repression. In an interview, Pratap described her book as follows, “It’s not a history text book, it’s not academic analysis. It’s in the genre called ‘reportage.’ It takes you to war zones and battlefronts and tells it as it is. It’s the memoirs of a war correspondent. It reads like fiction—except everything is true. Terrifyingly so. And all those who have read my book now subscribe to my long-held belief that reality is far more dramatic than fiction.”
An internationally acclaimed reporter, Pratap has been a contributor to Time magazine, and has been considered one of India’s leading correspondents for over 20 years. An intrepid journalist, Pratap reported from the frontlines on stories during the 1980s and ‘90s that much of the rest of the world media ignored. She covered the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, where over 50,000 people were killed, and she also exposed the brutally fanatical Taliban regime in Afghanistan years before the United States took interest in the country. In addition to her coverage of global hotspots, Pratap has consistently reported on issues such as population, education, health care, poverty, children, women and cultural issues.
Currently Pratap works as an independent documentary filmmaker. Her completed films include “When the Soul Glows,” a vivid look at India’s rich and varied music and dance traditions; “Light Up the Sky,” a penetrating portrait of the northeastern Indian state Mizoram; and “Shabash Hallelujah,” which artfully corrects accepted clichés about the revolutionary people of Nagaland.
Pratap has won several Indian and international awards, including the prestigious George Polk Award for her coverage of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 1996. In 1998 she was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award, presented by the Media Foundation in India, for her “sensitive portrayal of the human condition” and for her “talent, dedication and courage as a reporter.”
Courtesy of the UCSB Bookstore, Anita Pratap’s book will be available for purchase and signing at the evening event.
This lecture is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, and Global and International Studies as part of the lecture series Global Forces in the Post-Cold War World. Additional support provided by Santa Barbara Committee on Foreign Relations, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, PAX 2100, International Students Association at SB City College, and the International Studies Program at Ventura College.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.