Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore today inaugurated the second Taj literature festival in which a number of authors and poets will participate.
In a discussion, Sharmila spoke with Aruna Chakravarti, author of the historical novel, Jorasanko, the ancestral house of the Tagore family.
Sharmila told the audience about the state of women in the Tagore household, particularly their lifestyle.
Prominent works of Hindi literature including that of poet Surdas and author Rajender Yadav will be the focus at second edition of Taj Literature Festival kick starting next week in Agra.
The three-day festival slated to be an annual calender event from this year is scheduled from December 12-14.
“What other theme could be a better option than Hindi literature with the festival being held at the land of Surdas itself. Hindi literature has excellent works to boast of, why not promote them on a bigger landscape,” Harvijay Singh Bahiya, Director, Organising committee of the festival told PTI.
The second edition of the Taj Literature Festival will be held in Agra Dec 12-14. The three-day extravaganza aims to reach out to the literati of Agra and Kanpur, the organisers said.
The festival will host talk sessions by celebrated personalities on a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from Rabindranath Tagore to cricket, to the centenary of Indian cinema, and also 66 years of India’s independence.
After being shunned by his own kinsmen, Tehelka chief Tarun Tejpal received another blow, when the Taj Literature Festival organising committee cancelled Tejpal’s invitation and banned his books from the festival.
To be held between December 12-14 and inaugurated by actress Sharmila Tagore, the Taj Literature festival is being attended by literary personalities from all over the country and abroad. After Tejpal’s name was muddied by the molestation controversy, the festival organizing committee held an emergency meeting on Friday evening, after which it was decided that Tejpal’s invitation should be cancelled and his books ‘The Alchemy of Desire’ and ‘The Valley of Mask’ be banned from the festival.
Actor Sharmila Tagore will inaugurate the second edition of the Taj Literature Festival that will focus on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Soor Das, the sightless bard of Braj Bhasha, the organisers announced on Sunday.
The festival will be held here from December 12 to 14.
To revive the literature scene in Uttar Pradesh and the Braj region, enthusiasts have come together to organise the first Taj Literature Festival in Agra. To be held between February 1-3, 2013, the event will be attended by Ruskin Bond, Shobhaa De and Preeti Shenoy among others.
“From ancient times Uttar Pradesh has been on a firm ground when it comes to literature. We have had Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib, Surdas, Mir Taqi Mir…the list is endless. But, in the modern times, the written word has become dormant in northern India, especially among the youth,” said chief organiser Harvijay Singh Bahia, who came up with the idea. He, along with a few other friends, has been working for the past three months to make the festival a success.
