The seventh edition of the two-day Mysuru Literature Festival began on Saturday with a galaxy of authors and distinguished persons from various walks of life sharing their views on an array of themes.
Organised by the Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs -2015, the festival being held at Hotel Southern Star, was inaugurated by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family.
There were four panel sessions scheduled for the day, covering a wide gamut of subjects. Bibek Debroy, chairman, Economic Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister, scholar and who has translated the unabridged version of the Mahabharatha, spoke on Governance: Lessons from Itihasa-Puranas while the Ayodhya Kanda written and directed by Prasanna was enacted at a parallel session.
Shubha Sanjay Urs, managing trustee of the literary forum, said the 7th edition of the festival had a medley of evocative themes and inspiring writers were taking part in it. The theme of the panel discussion encapsuled a wide gamut of subjects — from history to translations and languages to sport and agriculture.
On Sunday, former international cricketer V.V.S. Laxman will be among the panellists to take part in a session on ‘281 and Beyond’, a book authored by the cricketer with R. Kaushik and is expected to be a great draw; it will commence from 10 a.m.
In the panel sessions in Kannada Jnanpith awardee Chandrashekar Kambar will be part of a session on folk literature and Jnanpith awards. In all, there will be 21 sessions on Sunday, spread over eight hours encompassing both English and Kannada.
Commander Abhilash Tomy (retd), a former Naval Aviator who circumnavigated the world non-stop in 2013, will be sharing his experience in the session ’Sailing the Seven Seas, Bravo Commander’. He will take the audience on a virtual journey across the seven seas in the session slated for late in the evening.
Noted names from the field of literature such as Vivek Shanbhag, Jayanth Kaikini, musician Praveen Godkhindi, and wildlife filmmaker Amoghavarsha will be part of other panel discussions scheduled for the day.
