The city saw literature lovers enjoying books and the weekend sun at the fifth edition of the Delhi Literature Festival.
“The timing of the festival [ahead of Valentine’s Day] is simply perfect as it celebrates our love for books,” said Vidya Malhotra, who was at the festival.
Dedicated to Delhi
The first day opened with a session dedicated to the city and saw author Swapna Liddle talk about her book “Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi”.
This year, the festival was attended by many authors, poets and bureaucrats including poet Ashok Vajpeyi, Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra, National Book Trust chairman Baldeo Bhai Sharma, poet Ashok Chakradhar, NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, writers William Dalrymple, Taslima Nasreen and and Tarek Fatah, and popular authors Ravinder Singh and Ira Trivedi.
Various discussions
The festival saw discussions on various topics, including demonetisation, the relevance of public libraries, branding for Make in India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Sessions on Urdu poetry and Dastangoi, coupled with discussions on modern day love, added to the atmosphere of peace and affection.
The JNU factor
Speaking at the festival, author Avijit Ghosh said everyone is “looking at Jawaharlal Nehru University through the prism of student-activist Kanhaiya [Kumar] only”. He feared that the “political side” of JNU might completely overshadow its “social side”.
“JNU has a social side. It has a life made of people who come from diverse backgrounds. And believe me, not everyone wants to be Kanhaiya. But it’s Kanhaiya who dominates the mindscape and we see JNU through the prism of Kanhiya today,” said Mr. Ghosh.
He also talked about his book titled “Up Campus, Down Campus,” a fictional tale of a group of JNU students.
