Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 (PTI) Leading writers and thinkers from across India and abroad will participate in the inaugural edition of ‘Books on the Beach’, a literature festival to be held here in November.
The literature fest, organised by non-profit India Book Foundation under the guidance and patronage of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, MP, and supported by Kerala Tourism, will be held at Kovalam from November 10-12.
Besides serving as an annual platform for the best in Indian and world literature, Books on the Beach will over successive editions tap into the city s youthful energy and distinctive charm to promote it as a leading destination for culture and tourism, Tharoor and Dr Venu V, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, told reporters here today. Read more
Gender divides, social issues and the human condition are just some of the key topics to expect at the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival 2017.
Now in its 11th year, the festival welcomes a diverse array of writers and thinkers to Asia House’s London headquarters for a series of literary events between 9th and 26th May 2017.
In addition to the Festival events in May, Asia House will also run several key pre-and post-festival talks in April and June. Read more
The Gateway LitFest, an annual platform that celebrates regional language literature, is holding its third edition this weekend. The two-day festival, whose theme this year is “The Contemporary Face of Indian Literature”, will focus on Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi, and Malayalam. With a list of 40 authors and artists, including Bratya Basu (Bengali), Chandana Dutt (Mythili), Damodar Mauzo (Konkani) and Desraj Kali (Punjabi), the festival aims to highlight the writings, experiments and translation work in regional languages.
“Writing in region languages gets overshadowed by what people generally refer to as ‘Indian literature’, which is writing in English by an Indian author,” says festival organiser Mohan Kakkanadan, adding, “We are creating a platform to encourage the acceptance of regional writing as a part of mainstream literature.” Panel discussions during the festival will evaluate the latest trends from the regional literary streams. The event will be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts. Read more
New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) A literature festival is all set to bring artists from South Asia — sans Pakistan — together, aiming to endeavour for peace in the region.
The South Asian Literature Festival will be organised by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) from February 24 to February 26 at the India International Centre here.
The 30th edition of the festival will revolve around the themes of “Beyond Borders” and “Endeavouring for Peace and Tranquillity in the Region”. Read more
While there has been a rapid growth in the sheer number of literary festivals around the country, most of them tend to focus on English literature. International authors are often the star attractions at these events and there is often little or almost no spotlight for regional authors, who are left confined to school textbooks. But two homegrown festivals in the city are slowly working their way towards shifting focus to regional literature. Lit O Fest and Gateway LitFest, both in their third year, have a burgeoning line-up of authors who will engage in talks, panel discussions and book launches.
The Multicultural aspect
Lit O Fest is a not just a literature festival, it’s a multi-cultural event that will be held over two days. The usual panel discussions will be interspersed with dance and music performances. “It is a showcase of Indian culture focusing on arts, music and dance. This year, the festival has adopted a village in Maharashtra called Dahigaon and started a school in it as well. We plan to adopt other villages as well and make them self-sufficient. So it’s not just literature, it’s also literacy in rural India,” says festival director Smita Parikh.
Popular authors such as Anand Neelakantan, Shashi Tharoor, William Dalrymple, Ashwin Sanghi and Shatrujeet Nath will be in attendance. Renowned Hindi authors Kedarnath Singh and Uday Prakash will be felicitated this year at the festival. Read more
The Nitish Kumar government is planning a “Gender Literature Festival” in Patna, where writers from across the world will be invited to discuss women-centric issues. The three-day festival, beginning April 7, is being organised by the Gender Resource Centre under the Women Development Corporation of the Bihar Social Welfare Department. The event is in line with the state government’s bid to consolidate the women constituency. The government has taken several initiatives in this direction, such as 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and local bodies, 35 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, school uniforms, bicycles, scholarship schemes, targeting creation of 10 lakh self-help groups and imposing prohibition of liquor.
Writers, mostly women, will be invited to the literature festival to discuss gender equity, discrimination and challenges and opportunities for women. A session will be devoted to transgender and LGBT issues as well. Asian Development Research Centre member secretary Shaibal Gupta, who is a member of the advisory committee for the festival, told The Indian Express: “We are trying to get top-grade women writers from across the world. We will also call male writers who have written extensively on women’s issues.” Read more
The fourth edition of the Chennai Literary Festival kick-started on Monday at the University of Madras, Students. It will have 18 workshops and 22 competitions over three days.
Remembering an incident from last year when a student tearfully thanked the organisers for the cash prize since it would help him pay the fees, Latha Rajan, chairperson, Chennai Literary Festival, said that cash prizes would be awarded for all competitions this year too. “When we started the festival four years ago, only around 15 colleges took part. Now we have more than 30 colleges, even from Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, taking part,” she added.
The programme has workshops on an array of topics ranging from Dalit and tribal literature to animation and cyber security. The workshops will be conducted simultaneously in 18 different colleges in the city. A range of competitions from dubsmash to book reviews and debate will be held. Read more
Literature buffs gathered in great numbers to celebrate the second Bazm-e-Sadaf Symposium and award ceremony. In a grand ceremony held at Retaj Residence Al Corniche Hotel, eminent speakers and literary personalities from India shed light on aspects of Urdu literature. For the first time in Doha, the literary event featured a complete session on Dastan Goi (storytelling).
The play was organised by Bazm-e-Sadaf International and was performed by Jawaid Danish from Canada. The skit was very well appreciated by the audience. The 60-minute long play kept them captivated. It involved more than five characters with different dialects of Urdu from different parts of India. Ambassador of India to Qatar P Kumaran was the chief guest at the occasion while M S Bukhari, the chief patron of Bazm-e-Sadaf International, presided over the session.
General secretary Ahmad Ashfaq invited the dignitaries and poets on the stage. Mohd Habibun Nabi, deputy chief patron, welcomed the entire guest. The ambassador of India thanked Bukhari for inviting him to the function and that he was impressed with the level of poetry. “I learned Urdu through Arabic when I was posted in Egypt and am still trying to learn more. I congratulated the entire Bazm-E-Sadaf team for organising such an amazing function,” said the ambassador. Read more
Forget about the heated debates on Bob Dylan’s winning the Nobel Prize, talk about the home grown crop of writers and the literary festivals they are invited to where you get to hear linguaphiles whip prose and poetry equally, later discussed over sandwiches whose grains define the topography you hail from and which literary figure you adore.
And you don’t need to travel to the oh-so-swooning lit fests like Berlin International Literature Festival or rush to London Literature Festival. Freeze your calender for that popular JLF in the kaleidoscopic city of Jaipur or our very own Hyderabad Lit Fest held in iconic Hyderabad Public School (HPS). Or better still pack your bags to silvery beaches of Goa and soak in to the brilliant sessions of writers from across the country. The season of lit fests begins and will be on till February 2017; so make the most of it. Check out from our listings: Read more
Children, poetry and a pair of freakishly realistic horse puppets were all part of the fun at the opening night of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
Many of the guest authors who will appear during the festival were at March 3’s event held in the theatre of The Cultural and Scientific Association in Dubai’s Al Mamzar, which also included a special address by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the UAE’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development. Continue reading →
