The third edition of the Bangalore Literary Festival (BLF) is all set to bring in nearly 150 authors to the city this month-end. The event will be held on September 26, 27 and 28 at Crowne Plaza in Electronics City.
“BLF is now part of Bangalore’s landscape,” said author Vikram Sampath, co-founder of BLF. “Our dream is to create a little literary island. It is the second largest conclave after Jaipur. It is a get-together from across the globe for sharing and discussing ideas.”
Shinie Antony, one of the founding members, unveiled details of the upcoming event along with members of the advisory board Chandrashekhara Kambara and T.V. Mohandas Pai.
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Vikram said, “This fest is special to us, as it is dedicated to U.R. Ananthamurthy with a tribute planned by several writers. A contingent of 10 writers from the North-east will not just share their literature, but also the socio-political and cultural issues, that will mirror their little known life.”
Well-known names such as Girish Karnad, Arun Shourie, Gulzar, Ramachandra Guha, Shobhaa De, Nayantara Sahgal, Chetan Bhagat, Jerry Pinto would be coming while nearly 25 writers from across the globe make up the international participation. Structured sessions for children and Kannada voices to discuss the state of the language and the impact of the classical-language tag would be part of the fest.
“Lit-Mart where aspiring writers could pitch their manuscripts to commissioning editors and publishers would be another highlight,” said Shinie Antony. Authors Sitanshu Yashaschandra (Gujarati), Kethu Vishwanatha Reddy (Telugu), Joe D’Cruz (Tamil), Nirupama Dutt (Punjabi), Paul Zacharia (Malayalam), Sharan Kumar Limbale and Saniya (Marathi), Binod Ghosal (Bangla), Gayatribala Panda (Oriya), Nisar Azam (Kashmiri), Yatindra Mishra (Hindi) and Rakshanda Jalil (Urdu) would represent Indian languages.
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Jnanapith awardee Kambara said, “It’s a platform to share the best of Indian and international happenings in literature. Mr. Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education, said, “This is a wonderful community initiative where a large part is funded by individual aficionados. The fest seems to be the best ‘community model’ for people to recognise.”
The fest is not without its cultural take, as Bombay Jayashri and Shubha Mudgal would be the other powerful melodic voices to be heard. For details and registration, visit: www.bangaloreliteraturefest ival.org. Follow the fest on Facebook or Twitter (#BlrLitFest).