The dress code is casual, and the alert level definitely high for this celebration of the release of Amitava Kumar’s latest books, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb (non-fiction) and Nobody Does the Right Thing (fiction). Part reportage and part protest, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb is an inquiry into the cultural logic and global repercussions of the war on terror. In hisNew York Times review, Dwight Garner called it in turns an “angry and artful” and a “perceptive and soulful” meditation on “the cultural and human repercussions” of the global war on terror. Kumar will be in conversation with writer Lorraine Adams, and artists Martha Rosler, Jill Magid, and Margot Herster, whose works exploring the surveillance in a war-on-terror world will be on display.

(Security provided by the highly professional team at the South Asian Journalists Association; drinks laced with the truth serum made available with the generous help of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop.)

Amitava Kumar grew up in Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty and delicious mangoes. He is the author of Husband of a Fanatic(The New Press, 2005), an “Editors’ Choice” book at the New York Times. He is also the author of Bombay-London-New York (Routledge, 2002), and Passport Photos (University of California Press, 2000). His novel, Home Products (Picador-India, 2007) was a finalist for India’s premier literary award, Vodafone Crossword Prize. Kumar’s forthcoming book, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb, is a writer’s report on the global war on terror. Currently, he is Professor of English at Vassar College.