Literal exchange
It was the foresight of this literature enthusiast that drove him to create a festival that celebrates national and international writers from around the world. Under Sanjoy Roy’s aegis, the brand Teamwork Arts that has roots in the performing arts, social action and the corporate world has become a global phenomenon.
A graduate from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, Roy went on to study in Mumbai and London, and admits to a strong cultural bent. He shares, “After working initially as an actor and then as TAG (theater action groups) executive director, I understood that the arts create a window to be able to look into other people’s cultures, mindsets and philosophies. They create wealth — both tangible and intangible — and contribute to the economy of a city as well as country by creating jobs, catalysing resources and engaging young people to find platforms to practise their passion. The arts allow people to be able to express their frustration and to find their own being and personality.”
Recalling his tryst with running a television production company before literary festivals came calling, Roy says, “Our weekly Saturday afternoon meetings were routine affairs. Over samosas and chai, crucial decisions were made: which character should be killed off, what celebrity shoot needed lining up for next week, etc. Six years on, we were a factory, churning out formats, inventing soaps, re-imagining game shows, which were a precursor to today’s reality programmes.”
Having seen him perform in Primetime Theater’s Me and My Girl, Sushma Bahl, Director of Arts at British Council, then invited him to visit the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the British Council showcase programme in 1999. This set the agenda for his first cross-festival presentation in 2001.
Talking about the upcoming JLF that will be held in Colorado from September 18 to 20, Sanjoy reveals, “It was the time when we were looking for a home in the US and received a proposal from psychoanalyst Jessie Friedman, Tibetan translator Jules Levinson and India lover Maruta Kalnins to bring the festival to Colorado. Once I visited Boulder, I realised that it was the perfect destination city for a JLF-style festival — scenic, stunning, tucked away at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and a mile high above the sea. It boasts of a highly educated and professional population as well as a large student influx.
Naropa University’s credentials as a Buddhist-inspired academic institution, along with the eagerness and support of the city’s civic bodies were all strong factors in making Boulder a perfect host market where ‘the Occident meets the Oriental’. JLF at Boulder will feature notable writers, thinkers, poets and performers coming together to celebrate the pulse of world literature and will include a focus on Native American, Latino, African American, Asian American and regional literature. The festival will bring together Indian-American, Asian and Latin American authors to explore a variety of literary topics. Activities preceding the festival include creative writing workshops in Boulder and Denver schools.”
Getting candid on his other interests, the man with shiny, straight, silver hair, says, “I love theatre and the sheer joy of seeing the curtains open each night to reveal extraordinary performances. My stress buster is to cook a meal for 10 to 150 people as the occasion may require, inspired mostly by my travels. Having tasted a particular dish, I bring my own twist to it. I dream up my recipes at night and then experiment with what I have at home.”