“We want it to be a family affair where people come with their children and spend time in the open air soaking in the literary and cultural atmosphere in one of the most iconic heritage buildings in Hyderabad,” says Amita Desai, director of Hyderabad Literary Festival, which begins on Friday.
As the white canopies go up segregating various areas into different zones at the Hyderabad Public School, Ms. Desai points to the middle zone where Telangana craftspeople, artists will showcase their works. “This is a modern literary event where we understand people don’t communicate with their words alone. Art is a language, music is a language. We are going to have Ghusadi performance on all days. We are having an Instagram zone because we realise people are communicating with photographs,” she says.
The LitFest in its seventh edition is a bigger and more sumptuous affair with 30 literary events spread over three days with six panel discussions, and eight literary sessions every day. There are a range of interactive art, cultural events and exhibitions from January 27 to 29.
The pick of the first day events include:
Panel discussions:
ImageNation: Writing as heroism: Jun Cruz Reyes, Luna Sicat-Cleto, Vim Nadera and Melia Balgoa. 11 a.m.
Brand business stories: Ambi Parmeswaran, Sushila Ravindranath and Adhiraj Parthasarathy. 12 noon.
Indias Abroad: Alan Johnson, Shanta Acharya, Sudha Balagopal, Pranesh Prasad. 2 p.m.
Writing against the odds: Amin Sheikh, Chandan Das, Uma Sridhar. 3 p.m.
