Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia

Joined in conversation with: Sara Kazmi (Dept of English, Penn) and Sudev Sheth (The Lauder Institute)
Introduction by CASI Director Gareth Nellis

A book sale and signing will take place at the conclusion of the talk.

Light lunch will be served

Sam Dalrymple is a Delhi-raised Scottish historian and award-winning filmmaker. He graduated from Oxford University as a Persian and Sanskrit scholar, and also studied at the University of Isfahan and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran. He has worked across South and Central Asia, including stints with Turquoise Mountain in Kabul, and with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Hunza and Lahore. In 2018, he co-founded Project Dastaan, a peace-building initiative that reconnects refugees displaced by the 1947 Partition of India. His debut film, Child of Empire, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and received the inaugural XR History Award from the Körber-Stiftung Foundation. His animated series, Lost Migrations, sold out at the British Film Institute (BFI) the same year. Dalrymple’s writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Spectator, and his work has been featured in TIME, The New Yorker, and The Economist. He is a columnist for Architectural Digest. In 2025, Travel & Leisure named him “Champion of the Travel Narrative.” His debut book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia (William Collins & Harper Collins India; June 2025; WW Norton & Company, February 2026) was an International Bestseller, reaching #1 in India and was a “Best Book of 2025” for the Financial Times, The Week, Spectator, BBC History Magazine, NPR, History Today and Daunts.