The seventh edition of Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) will be held from January 27 to 29 at Hyderabad Public School. The festival will open barely days after the biggest literary carnival in the country — Jaipur Literature Festival (January 19 to 23). December and January, in particular, are months when the country has a busy calendar of literary events. Each year, the team behind HLF plans its schedule such that it doesn’t clash with other lit fests and prefers hosting the city’s edition to coincide with Republic Day weekend.
Amita Desai, one of the directors of HLF, is hopeful of the turnout at the forthcoming fest. “International writers and artists visit India for various lit fests this time of the year. So it works to our advantage since many of them are game to extend their stay and visit Hyderabad. This year, we have 150 writers, artists and filmmakers participating,” she says.
At any lit fest, some sessions are considered high brow and the audience is a mix of literary enthusiasts, curious learners and those who simply want to be spotted at sessions featuring leading authors. Lit fests are also carnivals that attract sections of student communities that love to soak in the atmosphere and participate in workshops.
HLF 2017 aims to widen its reach among school and college students, and hence it includes workshops such as writing comics and graphic novels (by Jai Undurti and Harsho Mohan Chattoraj) and how to create an impression on Instagram (by Kuber Shah). In addition, there will be a stage talk by children of Divya Disha, sharing their experiences of growing up in urban slums and their expectations from policy makers and government authorities.
A closer look at the schedule shows a representation of diverse genres of performing arts. Amita says that she, along with other HLF directors that include Ajay Gandhi of Manthan, Kinnera Murthy, Prof. T.Vijay Kumar, G.S.P. Rao and architect G. Srinivas Murthy, were keen on inviting experts from varied fields.
HLF will also pay a tribute and remember three versatile women in performing arts — M.S. Subbulakshmi, Mahasweta Devi and Chandralekha. To mark the birth centenary of M.S. Subbulakshmi, writer Gowri Ramnarayan will host a session and Avinash Pasricha will display photographs of the legendary musician shot by him.
Bhudan Theatre will stage a play inspired by late Mahasweta Devi’s short story Stanadayini .
Tishani Doshi will deliver a commemorative talk on dancer and choreographer Chandralekha, to mark 10 years since her passing away.
Glancing at the list of participating writers, we spot a few established and many emerging names. “We’ve tried to have an interesting mix of authors and poets. We’d love to host many more established names, but some of them charge a fee. HLF, unlike many other fests, is not a commercial one and hence we don’t have funds to pay authors,” explains Amita.
HLF 2017 highlights
* Guest nation: Philippines
* Indian language in focus: Tamil
* HLF aims to be environmentally friendly and be inclusive to the disabled.
* More than 20 artists will put up exhibitions and installations.
A host of workshops will be held:
* Radio Art by Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Ralf Wendt and Michael Nicolai of Radio Corax in Halle, Germany. The programme will be broadcast live in radio stations in Halle (Radio Corax), Berlin (PiRadio), and Hyderabad (Bol Hyderabad).
* A demonstration of Silambam by Aishwarya Manivannan and Power Pandian Aasan team.
(For more, check www.hydlitfest.org)
