Neustadt Festival Highlights and Upcoming Events

September 26, 2012

by Jen Rickard Blair

Sainrithya Dance Academy performs at Opening Night. Photo by Jen Rickard.

Sainrithya Dance Academy performs at Opening Night. Photo by Nicole Drapeau.

A packed house at the Neustadt Festival Opening Night. Photo by Jen Rickard.

WLT art director Merleyn Bell introduces the opening night poets. Photo by Jen Rickard.

Oklahoma poets at opening night. Photo by Nicole Drapeau.

Nathan Brown reading a poem at opening night. Photo by Nicole Drapeau.

From left to right, Freny Mistry, Rohinton Mistry, and WLT executive director RC Davis-Undiano. Photo by Jen Rickard.

Norman Public School 4th and 5th graders look on at the beginning of the CultureQuest readings. Photo by Jen Rickard.

2012 Neustadt Festival featured writers and guests sit with WLT editor in chief Daniel Simon. Photo by Jen Rickard.

OU music performance major Angela Marshall played adaptations of Indian songs on piano. Photo by Jen Rickard.

OU VP of student affairs Clarke Stroud reading to NPS 4th and 5th graders. Photo by Jen Rickard.

OU India Student Association performs a few traditional dances. Photo by Jen Rickard.

The Neustadt Festival kicked off Tuesday evening with a packed-house at the opening night reception and an energetic Wednesday morning with hundreds of fourth and fifth graders from the Norman Public Schools. Check out the photo gallery to see what's been happening at the 2012 Neustadt Festival, and prepare your schedule for the upcoming events on Thursday and Friday.

The festival will dive deep into the writing of Rohinton Mistry on Thursday morning with scenes from Tamasha's adaptation of A Fine Balance performed by OU school of drama students. The performance will be sandwiched between two panel discussions immersing into Mistry's writing and India. Susan Andrade, Sudha Bhuchar, and Emily Rook-Koepsel will be on the first panel, and Beena Kamlani, Vijay Seshadri, and Samrat Upadhyay on the second panel. Visit neustadtfestival.org/schedule for the details on time and place, and read about the panelists at neustadtfestival.org/writers. The Sangeet Millennium Ensemble will close the Thursday festivities with a Masala World Music concert filled with Indian music at the Catlett Music Center.

Lastly, make sure you don't miss our capstone event—Mistry's keynote speech will take place Friday morning at 11:15 a.m. in the Molly Shi Ballroom of the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Free parking will be available at the OMU parking garage.

Visit neustadtfestival.org to add any and all these events to your calendar. And participate in the conversation online by tweeting, posting, and sharing your favorite quotes from the events using the #Neustadt hashtag.

Neustadt Festival