FOR RELEASE: March 18, 1999
Contact:
Franklin Crawford
Office: (607) 255-9737
E-Mail: [email protected]
Compuserve: Bill Steele, 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The South Asia Program at Cornell University has announced the creation of the Rabindranath Tagore Endowment in Modern Indian Literature, made possible through a generous gift by Professor Emeritus Narahari Umanath Prabhu and his wife, Suman Prabhu.
"The members of the South Asia Program are thrilled by the Prabhus' generous gift," said Chris Minkowski, South Asia Program director. "It will greatly increase the visibility of South Asian studies at Cornell and will give us the chance to bring to campus some of the most interesting writers of our day."
The first phase of the endowment will fund an annual public lecture series called the Rabindranath Tagore Lectures. These events will feature distinguished South Asian writers from India and around the world. They will present a series of seminars on various aspects of modern Indian literature written in the Indian regional languages as well as English. Tagore Endowment lecturers will visit Cornell for one week, present two or three seminars on a chosen topic and be available to interact with interested Cornell faculty and graduate students. Plans are now under way for an inaugural Rabindranath Tagore Lecture to be held in the fall of 1999.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was heralded as the greatest Indian writer of his generation and remains a towering figure in modern Indian literature. Tagore was an accomplished writer, artist and composer as well as social critic and educator. In 1913, he received the Nobel Prize in literature.
Throughout his career Tagore traveled extensively and became the most visible representative of Indian letters. Now, nearly 60 years after his death, a new generation of Indian writers, published both in English and in India's regional languages, continue to attract global attention to the vitality of Indian literatures.
It is expected that with additional support, the Tagore Endowment will be sufficient to sponsor programs of longer duration, such as a visiting professorship and eventually a Tagore Chair in Modern Indian Literature.
The South Asia Program at Cornell coordinates research, teaching and special campus events relating to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
For more information, contact Anne Patterson at the South Asia Program, (607) 255-8493.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.
-- Cornell's South Asia Program: http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/Southasia
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