When literature will be the cynosure of all eyes

The Hindu's Lit for Life to be held in Chennai from October 29 to 30

After a grand opening in Delhi on September 25, The Hindu's Lit for Life, presented by Hirco, now moves to Chennai. Spread over two days — October 29 and 30 — the conclave will see authors, academics, filmmakers and publishers discuss literature in its various avatars.

Danseuse Leela Samson will be the chief guest at the inauguration, while author and publisher David Davidar will be the guest of honour.

Day one, Mohammed Hanif will discuss writers from the sub-continent with Ziya us Salam. While Latha Anantharaman and Rahul Bhattacharya talk about the whys and hows of travel writing; Tamil writers Bama and P. Sivakami, academic Susie Tharu and Editor of

The Hindu Siddharth Varadarajan look at “Is Writing a Healing?” Publishers Ravi Singh, V.K. Karthika, Urvashi Butalia and Saugata Mukherjee pitch in with “The Other Side of Books” as Zac O' Yeah undertakes “The Tragedy Workshop.”

Day two begins with “The Scent of Paper,” a discussion between writers Kavery Nambisan and K. Srilata. Scriptwriter Anjum Rajabali and filmmakers Balu Mahendra, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and K. Hariharan discuss films in “Freeze Frame.” Urvashi Butalia and Shabana Azmi talk about “Unlimited Spirit.” As Mini Krishnan and Arunava Sinha conduct a “Translations Workshop,” Shashi Tharoor, Mukul Kesavan and Rahul Bhattacharya take a look at “Playing Fields.”

The final session has well-known author Vikram Seth discussing his latest work The Rivered Earth” with Nisha Susan. The grand finale will be the announcement of the winner of The Hindu Literary Prize.

At the Delhi edition of Lit of Life, the panel of judges – Mridula Garg, Brinda Bose, K. Satchidanandan, Tabish Khair and Pavan K. Verma – announced a shortlist of seven books for

The Hindu Literary Prize.

Mr. Tharoor, the chief guest for the day, will give away the prize.

Presenting Sponsor: HIRCO; Associate Sponsors: Shriram City, Rado; Session Sponsors: Club Mahindra, Penguin, Harper Collins, Om Books, Spotlight; Travel Support: Le Passage to India; Venue Support: Hyatt Regency; Gift Sponsor: Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd.; and Creative Consultant: Siyahi.