Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This event, originally titled 'Paro: Rescripting the Narrative', took place on 14 June 2025. The information below is correct as of the publication date.
Paro disrupted dominant narratives of womanhood alongside Bollywood icons Zeenat Aman and Shabana Azmi, reframing the gaze on the female body. In this session, author, publisher, and festival director Namita Gokhale revisited her subversive debut that continues to provoke and illuminate across four decades. Acclaimed writer, translator, and screenwriter Anu Singh Choudhary discussed the evolving focus on women-centric narratives in Indian cinema. From the TV series Aarya to the film adaptation Mrs., her storytelling persistently interrogates gender and agency. In conversation with Georgina Godwin, broadcast journalist and founding member of Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station, they explored how their work continues to recast expectations of women and how certain frames require constant refocusing in India.
This event took place as part of JLF London 2025.
About JLF London:
JLF London returned to the British Library in 2025 for its 12th edition, with an exciting line-up of speakers and sessions. JLF London embodies the multi-faceted spirit of the mother festival - the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival, with its unique celebration of books and ideas, inclusiveness and sense of community. Like all JLF international editions, the London programme brings alive South Asia’s unique multilingual literary heritage and blends it with local literary highlights.
To join more online and in person events visit our website: events.bl.uk
Discover more of our past events at our playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVRvouzCZmFeI-PSlsaLHzJwtEkKshATx&si=94-9DoaNCNTFAyQc
Speaker Bios:
Namita Gokhale is the co-founder and co- director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and the author of twenty-five works of fiction and non-fiction. Her iconic debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion, published in 1984 by Chatto & Windus, was issued as a Penguin Modern Classic in India and has been re-republished in the UK by HopeRoad. Recent fiction includes Never Never Land, and collected stories - Life on Mars. The Whispering Mountains: Himalayan Folk Tales is another of her recent works. Gokhale’s writing spans different genres, including novels, short fiction, Himalayan studies, mythology, several anthologies, books for young readers, and a play. Gokhale is committed to platforming literary dialogue and showcasing the rich diversity of multilingual Indian identity. She is the recipient of various prizes and awards, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi (National Academy of Literature) Award 2021 for her novel Things to Leave Behind.
Anu Singh Choudhary is an award-winning screenwriter, journalist and bestselling author with a remarkable ability to bring authentic, deeply rooted narratives to life. With a career spanning journalism, documentary filmmaking, fiction writing, screenwriting and film production, she has co-written acclaimed series like all seasons of Aarya; Scoop and Grahan and written several films, including Mrs, one of the most talked about films of 2025. She has received prestigious awards, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism; she has also been a juror on the International Emmys for Sir Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Awards for the year 2022 and 2023.
Georgina Godwin is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a broadcast journalist, and presents an author interview programme, Meet the Writers, as well as the current affairs show, The Globalist, on Monocle Radio. She is also Books Editor for the station, and chairs literary events worldwide. She is on the board of the charity English PEN.
The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today: support.bl.uk/Donate
This event, originally titled 'Paro: Rescripting the Narrative', took place on 14 June 2025. The information below is correct as of the publication date.
Paro disrupted dominant narratives of womanhood alongside Bollywood icons Zeenat Aman and Shabana Azmi, reframing the gaze on the female body. In this session, author, publisher, and festival director Namita Gokhale revisited her subversive debut that continues to provoke and illuminate across four decades. Acclaimed writer, translator, and screenwriter Anu Singh Choudhary discussed the evolving focus on women-centric narratives in Indian cinema. From the TV series Aarya to the film adaptation Mrs., her storytelling persistently interrogates gender and agency. In conversation with Georgina Godwin, broadcast journalist and founding member of Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station, they explored how their work continues to recast expectations of women and how certain frames require constant refocusing in India.
This event took place as part of JLF London 2025.
About JLF London:
JLF London returned to the British Library in 2025 for its 12th edition, with an exciting line-up of speakers and sessions. JLF London embodies the multi-faceted spirit of the mother festival - the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival, with its unique celebration of books and ideas, inclusiveness and sense of community. Like all JLF international editions, the London programme brings alive South Asia’s unique multilingual literary heritage and blends it with local literary highlights.
To join more online and in person events visit our website: events.bl.uk
Discover more of our past events at our playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVRvouzCZmFeI-PSlsaLHzJwtEkKshATx&si=94-9DoaNCNTFAyQc
Speaker Bios:
Namita Gokhale is the co-founder and co- director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and the author of twenty-five works of fiction and non-fiction. Her iconic debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion, published in 1984 by Chatto & Windus, was issued as a Penguin Modern Classic in India and has been re-republished in the UK by HopeRoad. Recent fiction includes Never Never Land, and collected stories - Life on Mars. The Whispering Mountains: Himalayan Folk Tales is another of her recent works. Gokhale’s writing spans different genres, including novels, short fiction, Himalayan studies, mythology, several anthologies, books for young readers, and a play. Gokhale is committed to platforming literary dialogue and showcasing the rich diversity of multilingual Indian identity. She is the recipient of various prizes and awards, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi (National Academy of Literature) Award 2021 for her novel Things to Leave Behind.
Anu Singh Choudhary is an award-winning screenwriter, journalist and bestselling author with a remarkable ability to bring authentic, deeply rooted narratives to life. With a career spanning journalism, documentary filmmaking, fiction writing, screenwriting and film production, she has co-written acclaimed series like all seasons of Aarya; Scoop and Grahan and written several films, including Mrs, one of the most talked about films of 2025. She has received prestigious awards, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism; she has also been a juror on the International Emmys for Sir Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Awards for the year 2022 and 2023.
Georgina Godwin is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a broadcast journalist, and presents an author interview programme, Meet the Writers, as well as the current affairs show, The Globalist, on Monocle Radio. She is also Books Editor for the station, and chairs literary events worldwide. She is on the board of the charity English PEN.
The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today: support.bl.uk/Donate
