Rachna Davidar, Programme Director, says, “This year the festival has 100 outstanding writers from India and abroad, who have scooped up some of the world’s biggest awards, speaking on a whole range of subjects — literary and commercial fiction, history, biography, current events, politics, war, economics, business, the environment, photography and much else besides. Expect our carefully crafted sessions to be edgy, contemporary, thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating, and very absorbing.”
The 2015 schedule, packed with names like Booker Prize-winner Eleanor Catton, bestselling writers Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi and author, biographer and historian Rajmohan Gandhi, authors Aatish Taseer, Damon Galgut, Nayantara Sahgal, historian Charles Allen , filmmakers Vetrimaran and Vasanthabalan, Carnatic musicians T.V. Gopalakrishnan and Prince Rama Varma once again illustrates the importance of inclusion, and the need to understand and appreciate literature in its entirety.
According to Pradeep Sebastian, a member of 2013’s jury, “For me, the festival and the prize stand for The Hindu ’s long commitment to noteworthy writing and, in particular, Nirmala Lakshman and the Literary Review ’s deepening engagement with both, exciting contemporary literature and its writers and readers.”
Along with the literary variations, quite early on, Lit for Life made another decision. It refused to interpret and examine the written word in isolation. It decided to work with a centrality that focussed on the word, but also invited within its fold the social and cultural construct the word sprung from.
“Literature is reflective of various aspects of life. It’s not an imaginary space and it’s very connected to everyday experiences. The printed word itself takes off from experiences and any subject can become literature. A literary festival should be not just about prose and writing per se. It should also about exchanging ideas, engaging with critical thought and challenging existing notions. But also at the same time we did not give up the classics, the heritage of writing and traditions. We wanted Lit for Life to go beyond words,” says Lakshman.
And so, with the authors and the books came the dancers, the chefs, the musicians, the photographers, the actors and the sportsmen. Lit for Life emerged as a platform where books could share the stage with other disciplines. It let the two exchange ideas, styles, experiences.
For photographer and bookmaker Dayanita Singh, this possibility of interconnected disciplines is an exciting one. Looking forward to her panel with musician T. M. Krishnathis year, she says, “I think when lit fests start to open up and bring in other mediums, then it becomes really interesting. From my point of view, when people ask me about studying photography, I tell them to go do an M.A. in literature and then think about photography. Reading books, literature is crucial to being an artist. I hope that if I talk at a lit fest that something might percolate down to photographers and perhaps, they will find music and books are important to photography.”
Other scheduled panels, among numerous others, include What Coloured The Line: A Discussion on Visual Art with Rm Palaniappan, Trotsky Marudhu, Muralidharan; Starlight: Nimrat Kaur and Tisca Chopra in conversation with Latha Menon; Challenging the Status Quo: Powerful Women in Conservative Societies with Jung Chang and Leila Seth in conversation with Vaishna Roy; In the Eye of The Sun: Ahdaf Soueif in conversation with Salil Tripathi; Jonathan Gil Harris’ illustrated talk on The First Firangis: Remarkable stories of Heroes, Healers, Charlatans, Courtesans and other Foreigners who Became Indian; P. Sainath in his session This Land, Our Countrywill talk about his newly-launched archive PARI.
Chennai’s 375-year history will be the focus of two sessions. The first, Speaking of Writing: The Stories of Madras will have V. Sriramand A.R. Venkatachalapathytalk of the city’s history. The second — Images and Imagery of Memory — will see Alarmel Valliand Singeetam Srinivasa Raoin conversation with Sushila Ravindranathabout the city’s cultural facet.
It is this interdisciplinary approach that also led to the workshops that have now become integral to the festival, and today, it seems not out of the ordinary that Lit for Life’s schedule includes Dermocracy: A Skincare Workshop by Dr. Sharad P. Paul, or Lyric Engineering: A Workshop on Creating Effective Lyrics by Madhan Karky, or even Die, Author, Die: A fun workshop on interpreting cinema your way by Baradwaj Rangan.
“What I find most exciting is how the festival locates itself while celebrating the word. It’s very inclusive, not only in terms of including other languages and literature from different regions, but also including what is happening in other disciplines, like visual art, cinema, theatre”, says Prasanna Ramaswamy, Programme Consultant. Each year, the festival aims to include fringe activities that interpret literature and reading through other disciplines. While previous years have seen dramatic monologues, this year Chennai’s theatre group Crea Shakti comes aboard as Dramatics Partner to take charge of the theatrical rendering by college students of excerpts from the shortlisted books .
Five years of reinterpretation and experiments with the boundaries of the written word have shaped a festival that offers increased possibilities and enhanced experiences; a festival where you might arrive at Lit for Life only to catch Romila Thapar’s session, and then find yourself staying on for another panel with Ravinder Singh, and then, who knows, you might even spend some time learning how to cook with a celebrity chef. Of last year’s festival, Bangladeshi author Farah Ghuznavi, says, “It was a marvellous experience to be part of The Hindu Lit for Life 2013, not only because of the spectacular literary line-up, but also the sheer diversity of the topics covered — from debate and discussions about fiction and poetry, to the insights provided by journalists and thinkers, to theatrical performances, and lifestyle interests such as fashion and cookery!”
Of course, it’s not just interpretations that change with years; it’s also the very technology that we work with. Nothing is stagnant, not in today’s world, and nothing has remained stagnant for Lit for Life either. Year after year, the festival has embraced the ever growing, ever shifting literary space and while each foray into uncharted water is first tentative, it quickly becomes bold, assured, enthusiastic. The improving technological advances, the new and emerging disciplines, the altering mediums and platforms; the festival has tried to understand and work with all these variations, and in turn, has stayed relevant to the times, ensuring that it remains an arena that transcends reading habits, ages and interests. Within the venue, the experiments have never stopped. Over the years, the festival has dabbled in, among other things, mobile bookshops on cycle rickshaws, wishing trees with messages on colourful post-its and writing competitions. While packed auditoriums are always welcome, Lit for Life has also tried to reach its online audience. The first twitter handle and experiments have fast changed to multiple platforms and feeds on several social media and networking websites, giving an online audience the opportunity to attend the festival from anywhere in the world. Amandeep Sandhu, author of Roll of Honour which was shortlisted last year, says, “What I liked most, apart from the content of the sessions, was how the festival used modern technology to beam live to people — through social media and the festival website”.
Lit for Life is young, only five. Yet, in this short time, it has created a space for itself that is unique to it, a space that celebrates literature in an almost starkly simple, yet immensely layered way. This year’s festival offers to every panellist, every guest and every author an opportunity to celebrate their love for the written word. It promises them three days of nothing but books, and at the same time, it offers so much more.
Curator, The Hindu Lit for Life
January 16, 17 & 18 will see a celebration of ideas, words, performances and more. For more information visit www.thehindulfl.com;
For more updates on The Hindu Lit for Life visit:
Website:>www.thehindu.com/litforlife
Facebook: >>www.facebook.com/TheHinduLitForLife
Twitter:>www.twitter.com/hindulitforlife
Instagram:>www.instagram.com/hindulitforlife
Youtube:>http://thne.ws/playlist-litforlife
Vine:>http://vine.co/Lit.for.Life
