KNMA presents Penguin Dialogue: Where Memory Remains, featuring acclaimed author Geetanjali Shree in conversation with Kaveree Bamzai. Centred on Once Elephants Lived Here, the evening explores the novel alongside Geetanjali Shree’s remarkable body of work, reflecting on the literary concerns and narrative approaches that have shaped her writing over the years.

Moving across fiction, memory, and lived histories, the discussion examines how language becomes a vessel for remembrance, how personal and collective histories shape storytelling, and how literature creates spaces for belonging, imagination, and reflection. Drawing on her distinctive literary practice, Geetanjali Shree reflects on the enduring themes that continue to inform her work and the possibilities fiction offers for engaging with the complexities of the contemporary world.

The evening concludes with an audience Q&A, followed by a book signing, offering readers an opportunity to engage directly with the author and continue the dialogue beyond the stage.

About the Speakers
Geetanjali Shree is one of India’s most celebrated Hindi writers and the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize, alongside translator Daisy Rockwell, for Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi), the first Hindi novel to receive the honour. The author of several acclaimed novels and short-story collections, her work explores memory, history, language, and identity through an inventive literary voice.

Kaveree Bamzai is an award-winning journalist, author, and film critic with over three decades of experience in Indian media. Formerly the Editor of India Today and now an independent journalist, she has written extensively on culture, cinema, and contemporary India, and is the author of No Regrets and The Three Khans and the Emergence of New India.

While you’re here, explore KNMA’s ongoing exhibition
TYEB MEHTA Bearing Weight (with the lightness of being).