In celebration of Women's History Month, Asia Society presents an evening of poetry, memoir, dance and conversation, bringing together artistic, personal and global stories of womanhood. Join us for an intimate discussion of the mother-daughter relationship with writer, actress and child-rights advocate, Nandana Dev Sen, and author, art historian and Asia Society President Emerita, Vishakha Desai — with interpretations in movement by choreographer and dancer, Preeti Vasudevan. This unique program will weave together language and legacies, poems and performance, creating a vibrant, multi-sensory palette that presents the many shades of motherhood (and daughterhood).

Inspired by the poetry of one of Bengal’s most beloved writers, Nabaneeta Dev Sen (translated by her daughter, Nandana), this special program will feature bilingual poetry readings, original dance compositions, and a wide-ranging conversation touching on love, rebellion, marriage, motherhood, and migration. Vishakha and Nandana will explore the creative process of writing, the challenges of translation, and that sparkle we inherit from our mothers. They will be joined on stage by Preeti, who will share, through performance, her own interpretations of Nabaneeta’s extraordinary poetry.

Nandana Sen and Vishakha Desai have both published highly acclaimed books, which will be available for purchase and personalization at the event:

Acrobat is a radiant collection of poetry about womanhood, intimacy, and the body politic that together evokes the arc of an ordinary life, both picking apart and celebrating the rituals that make us human. Translated with lightness and lyricism by Dev Sen’s daughter Nandana, an award-winning poet herself, Acrobat is at once compassionate and unsparing, conversational and symphonic. In Gloria Steinem’s words, “Acrobat will rescue us, and be loved around the world.”

Vividly conjuring the complexities and exhilaration of a life rooted in multiple places, World as Family is an award-winning memoir by Vishakha Desai. Through her personal story of growing up in a Gandhian family in India and her subsequent career as a dancer, curator, teacher, and institutional leader in America, she reframes the idea of being global with multi-rooted local and national belongings.

Biographies

A writer, child-rights activist, and international actor, Nandana Dev Sen has authored six children’s books (translated into more than 15 languages globally), and starred in 20 feature films from four continents. Along the way, Nandana has been a book editor, a screenwriter, an interpreter for refugees, an advocate for child protection, and Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. Nandana studied filmmaking at USC, and literature at Harvard (with honors like the Detur Prize, John Harvard Scholarship, Agassiz Award, and Phi Beta Kappa). She has served on the juries of many child-rights commissions, international film festivals, and literary prizes (including the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature). As an ambassador, Nandana has represented UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, Operation Smile, RAHI, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

In addition to several Best Actress awards, some of Nandana’s other honors include the Wingword Poetry Prize and the Last-Girl Champion Award for Child Protection. Nandana is Artist Ambassador for Save the Children India, Global Author Advocate for Room to Read, and a Director of Women’s Refugee Commission, New York, where she chairs the Program and Advocacy Committee.

Reach Nandana here:

Facebook Instagram Twitter 

www.nandanadevsen.com.

President Emerita of Asia Society, Vishakha N. Desai is a noted scholar of South Asian Art and history well known for her leadership in presenting contemporary Asian art to American audiences and in developing innovative approaches to the relationship between culture and foreign policy in India, China and other Asian countries. She currently serves as Senior Advisor to Columbia Global and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Committee on Global Thought. She joined Columbia as a Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of the university after a distinguished two-decade-long career at the Asia Society. She began as the Director of the Asia Society Museum and Vice President for Arts and Culture at Asia Society, serving for her last eight years as President and CEO. 

Recipient of five honorary degrees, Dr. Desai has authored numerous publications including her award winning memoir, World as Family. Her new work, Politics of Visual Arts in a Changing World, an anthology by Columbia University Press, will be published in late 2025.

Preeti Vasudevan is an award-winning cultural storyteller and thought leader exploring individual identity and the critical role of arts in the expression of the individual’s story in a global society. A critically acclaimed choreographer, Preeti’s provocative and unconventional storytelling challenges the status quo of dance-theater, bridging ancient traditions with the contemporary world. Preeti’s works have been supported by prominent organizations like TED; Centre National de la Danse, Paris; Lincoln Center, NY; Guggenheim Works & Process, NY; The Joyce Foundation, NY, among others. Preeti created her arts impact collaborative, Thresh, in 2005, as a platform inviting multidisciplinary artistic collaborators and thought leaders to work towards a common voice on issues that impact our global society with a focus on women and youth. (www.threshdance.org)