Professor Preti Taneja, Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at Newcastle University, will join award-winning writer, educator and activist Nikesh Shukla for a special reading and in-conversation event as part of this year’s GemArts Masala Festival.

They will discuss his groundbreaking work across genres and forms – from writing Spiderman comics to literary fiction – and celebrate the 10th anniversary of his groundbreaking anthology The Good Immigrant, marking the milestone alongside GemArts Masala Festival's own 10th anniversary. 

Nikesh Shukla will be in conversation with award-winning writer, Preti Taneja, Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at Newcastle University, for an insightful discussion on his life and work, the book's impact and legacy, and how conversations around identity and belonging in publishing and beyond have evolved over the past decade. 

Professor Preti Taneja

Professor Preti Taneja is Director of the Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts (NCLA) which provides an exciting programme of free literary events to staff, students and the wider public community. These events host conversations with some of the most important and groundbreaking writers of theatre, film, poetry and prose working today.

Preti Taneja's novel, We That Are Young, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for the UK's finest literary debut in 2018, and was listed for awards including the Folio Prize and the Prix Jan Michalski, Europe's premier award for a work of world literature. Her second book is Aftermath, a lament on the language of prison, terror, trauma and grief. It won the Gordon Burn Prize 2022 for 'literature that is fearless in ambition and execution', and was a New Statesman and New Yorker Book of the Year. 

Preti's work is available in English and in translation around the world. She is the co-writer of the short film, The Man Who Met Himself, nominated for the short film Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, and winner of the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Languages and Literatures, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Masala Festival

GemArts' award-winning Masala Festival returns from 13th – 19th July for its 10th anniversary, bringing a vibrant mix and blend of the finest South Asian arts and culture to the North East of England. Featuring a programme of performances, exhibitions, events, workshops, talks, pop-ups, and food in venues, places and spaces across the region.

Nikesh Shukla in Conversation with Professor Preti Taneja, tickets £5
Date: Saturday 18 July
Time: 7pm
Venue: Northern Stage

For the full Masala Festival 2026 programme, visit www.gemarts.org/whatson