Geek Nation in Kolkata

I'm halfway through my mammoth book tour of India and the latest stop was the magnificently old-world city of Kolkata. Bengalis are famous for being philosophical, literary types, but we wanted to nerd things up a bit so the Geek Nation launch was held last night in the Birla Planetarium, which is India's first and largest planetarium. We had around a hundred people turn up to hear me in conversation with science fiction fan and academic Rimi Chatterjee, including the UK's Deputy High Commissioner. Again, loads of great questions and kind comments. I've been particularly happy at how many women geeks have been turning up to all the events, especially doctors. If you want to know more, there's a nice account of the evening in The Telegraph.

I have fallen in love with this city. But no literary visit to Kolkata would be complete without a walk down College Street... a madcap corner filled with book stalls and hole-in-the-wall publishers, mainly selling science textbooks. Meanwhile at the classier end of town, I was a little weirded out by a cardboard cutout of me right in the entrance of the plush Crossword bookstore. Head there if you'd like an autographed copy and don't forget to say hello to the two-dimensional Angela (the three-dimensional Angela will thank you later).

The next stop is Bengaluru. Yes, dork central. I'll be giving talks at Tata Consultancy Services and one for the public at the British Library at 7pm on Friday 15th April. See you there!