An evening with Kiran Desai

Kiran Desai, born in New Delhi in 1971, is one of India’s most important literary voices. As a teenager, she moved with her family to England, then to the USA, where she still lives today. In 2006, she was awarded the Booker Prize for „The Inheritance of the Lost Land“. Her latest novel, „The Solitude of Sonia and Sunny“, was also shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. Kiran Desai’s grandfather, Dhiren Mazumdar, lived in Berlin in the 1920s with his wife, Toni Nimé. Initially they met through Georg Kolbe, who made a portrait of Dhiren Mazumdar in 1925. A friendship developed which continued through correspondence even after the Mazumdars moved to India in 1928. The letters have been preserved in the archive collection that was returned to the Georg Kolbe Museum in 2020. This special friendship will be explored during a lecture by Kiran Desai followed by a discussion with Dr Elisa Tamaschke.