“Urban literature is symptomatic of all the stresses people face in this century,” says Pooja Sagar, who leads the Word Lab at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Sadashivanagar. These could include the large impending environmental crises, issues of waste, water scarcity and rising heat, things that are in nearly everyone’s minds today but do not seem to have any immediate solutions. “Writings around cities are the first to capture these tensions,” says Pooja.
City Scripts, the annual urban writing festival of IIHS, the 9th edition of which will be held between May 10 and 12, is all about celebrating various city-centred narratives. “In the last nine years, the festival has become a platform to connect research and practice with the public. City Scripts helps us understand the urban better by showing its many sides: its different people, its past, its problems, and its chances to grow,” says Sofia Juliet, who is part of Word Lab that hosts City Scripts and also a member of the organising team. The festival, she adds, encourages us to think of cities as more than just buildings and streets, but as lively places shaped by how people think, what they make, and how they connect. “And as cities keep changing, we will also keep evolving right along with them.”
This year, the theme for the festival will be Text and Tapestry, an attempt to “ look at how narratives around the city unravel like threads on a fabric, figuratively, and how these threads loop, unwind and extend across genres and themes,” as Pooja puts it. Some of the sessions include the following: a conversation on Indian languages, panel discussions on Indian horror writing and detective fiction, a deep dive into the literary legacy of Goa, an exploration of Bengaluru’s textile tradition and an examination of how Marquez’s body of work can be viewed through the lens of our present-day realities. “Art and Literature pull at the strings of a social fabric. By putting together panels which at a broad level try to create a thread about what this means for South Asia, and at a local level, how this holds, such as the panel on Goan literature, we hope to see some threads of continuity which we may have missed,” says Pooja.
While the core concept of City Scripts has always been a celebration of urban narratives through writing, the festival has always allowed space to include creative and interactive elements like workshops, exhibitions, and performances that explore urban issues from diverse perspectives, says Sofia. In addition to the various panel discussions, workshops on spinning, typography and storytelling will be held for adults and children. Several art exhibitions, which include a documentary project on Bengaluru’s textile industry, nature illustrations capturing its biodiversity, a textile tapestry called Patchwork City and a postcard exhibition that delves into the city’s past, will also be part of the festival. “We are bringing in voices from all walks of urban life—community members, artists, academics, activists—to make sure we are getting a real picture of what is happening in the urban,” she says.
The 9th edition of City Scripts will be held at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Sadashivanagar between May 10 and 12. All are welcome. To know more, log into https://cityscripts.iihs.co.in/
