The classy environs of the Taramati Baradari cultural complex will play host to the second edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival to be held here from January 16 to 18.
Being organised in a big way by the e-journal Muse India in association with APTourism and APTDC, the literary extravaganza will have more than 80 Indian authors representing English as well as other regional languages, organisers of the festival informed at a press conference on Wednesday.
Conversations with writers, reading sessions, panel discussions, and dialogues between authors will be part of the event.
It will also include a workshop in creative writing for school children, and competitions in short film-making, street plays, photography and fusion music for college students, informed T.Vijay Kumar, Director of the OU Centre for International Programmes which is one of the partners for the festival.
No entry fee
The list of literary persons to attend the festival includes Gulzar, Pavan K.Varma, Mark Tully, Meena Alexander, Rahul Pandita, G.Haragopal, Hemang Desai, Amish Tripathi, Jaishree Misra, Vallabh Vidyanagar, and Indu Sundareesan among others.
From Hyderabad, the writers to participate include Narendra Luther, Bilkeez Latif, Aminuddin Khan, N.Gopi, Abburi Chayadevi, C.Mrinalini, Jeelani Bano, Saleem, Narendra Rai, Rishabha Deo Sharma, Khalid Syed, Ashraf Rafi, Mushaf Iqbal Tausifi, and Tasneem Johar.
Special focus will be on Telugu, Hindi, Urdu, German and French writings. There is no entry fee for the festival and all sessions will be open to all.
However, certain privileges will be accorded to paid delegates, Prof.Vijay Kumar informed.
Two national-level literary awards, the Young Writer Award and Translator Award, will be given away by Muse India as part of the festival, informed G.S.P.Rao, managing editor of the journal.
‘Featured Nation'
Germany has been chosen the ‘Featured Nation' in the current festival, and two authors, UrsWidmer and Christopher Kloeble, will represent the Deutsch language in the festival, informed Amita Desai, executive director of Goethe-Zentrum, another partner. Screening of German films too will be organised.
French translators Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier who translated the work ‘Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir will be here for participation.
A fusion music concert by Triotonos, a jazz group from Germany, will entertain participants on the first day, while cultural performances by eminent artistes such as Ananda Shankar Jayant and Vidya Rao will follow the next day, Ms.Desai informed. For more information, one may visit the website www.hyderabadliteraryfestival.com.
