One of the city’s most ambitious cultural festivals, bringing in literary stars and intellectuals from around the world, as well as some stunning musical events. Artistic Director Sirish Rao consistently surprises audiences with a smorgasbord of delights.
Past Festivals
2011-2019
Featured artists
Over the years, Indian Summer Festival has featured some of the world’s finest artists and thinkers, playing our part in ensuring that Vancouver is a site of global conversations. We recently started a list of all the awards and honours ISF artists have been nominated for and surprised ourselves with how staggeringly impressive they are. Here we go:
Nobel Prize For Medicine
Academy Awards (Oscar)
Vogue 10 Most Impactful People
Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential
Gandhi International Peace Prize
Grammy Award
Giller Prize
Booker Prize
Governor General’s Award for Literature
Chevalier Dans L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Forbes Seven Most Powerful Women on The Globe
Commonwealth Writer’s Prize
Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
Dora Award
Leo
Juno Award
Bafta
Amazon First Book Award
James Joyce Prize
Lannan Award
Lennon/Ono Grant for Peace
National Film Award
Order of Canada
Padma Bhushan
Padma Shri
Right Livelhood Award
Samuel Beckett Award
Sydney Peace Prize
Somerset Maugham Award
World Economic Forum Crystal Award
Deepa Mehta
Oscar-nominated Film Director
Waris Ahluwalia
American Designer & Actor
Vandana Shiva
Environmental Activist and Anti-Globalization Author
Kamila Shamsie
Award-winning Novelist
Hariprasad Chaurasia
Master Bansuri Flautist
Arundhati Roy
Acclaimed Booker Prize-Winning Indian Author
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
Grammy Award-Winning Indian Classical Musician
Salman Rushdie
Award-winning Author
Bif Naked
Recording Artist, Poet and Writer
Christie Charles
Artist and Poet Laureate
Reza Aslan
American Author and Religious Studies Scholar
Anupam Kher
Bollywood Film Star
Dr. L. Subramaniam
Acclaimed Violinist, Composer and Conductor
Joe Sacco
Cartoonist and Journalist
Vivek Shraya
Multi-disciplinary Artist
Yann Martel
Booker Prize-winning Author of ‘Life of Pi’
Shabana Azmi
Bollywood Film Star & Women’s Rights Activist
Michael Ondaatje
Award-winning Novelist and Poet
Molly Crabapple
Artist and Writer
Saroo Brierley
Writer and Businessman
