Sirish Rao

Sirish Rao is a writer, producer, cultural curator, 
co-founder & artistic director of Indian Summer Festival.

Sirish was born in Bangalore, India and spent a decade as Director of Tara Books, which he helped grow from a startup into one of India’s most respected publishing houses, with a presence in five continents. Sirish is a published writer whose books have been translated into seventeen languages, and range from commentaries on street art to children’s books. In 2005, he received a major commission from the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to create contemporary retellings of a series of ancient Greek plays. The books won the American Associations of Museums Award and ‘Outstanding Book of the Year’ at the Independent Publishers Book Awards. He moved to Vancouver in 2010, and co-founded the Indian Summer Festival with his partner Laura Byspalko. In his role as Artistic Director of the festival, Sirish is guided by the root word of festival, which is ‘feast’ and imagines the festival as an inviting and garrulous long table where old friends meet and new ones are made. Sirish has been responsible for presenting over a thousand artists on the stages of the festival, in a roster that features Nobel, Booker, Grammy and Oscar Award-winning artists alongside exciting emerging talent. Sirish is deeply committed to playing his part in ensuring that Vancouver is engaged in meaningful conversation with itself and the world.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

Creativity is breathing on an ember of imagination just enough for it to reveal a world.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

Storytelling. Always in storytelling.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

Always be suspicious of people who dispense advice. They usually steer you away from the most interesting things.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

The great writer and thinker John Berger.

What fact about you would surprise people?

I didn’t go to university and trained as a Himalayan mountain guide instead.

What music are you listening to these days?

Definitely the Moana soundtrack. In my defense, I have a four year old daughter, but I also think it’s pretty fabulous. I’m a Lin Manuel Miranda fan.

What books made a difference in your life and why?

So many books have been my teachers, that I cannot name just one. As a young person, I lived in two worlds – the world of the surface where I went through the activities that children are meant to do, but always waiting for the moment where I could dive back into the world of stories. I think I realized very early on, that it was the most profound way of travelling.