Two-day Bangalore Lit Fest opens on Saturday

After two years of following a hybrid model, it returns to an offline format. It has a separate section for children, this year

The 11th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) is all set to kick off this weekend, at The Lalit Ashok, Seshadripuram.

The two-day event on December 3 and 4, will feature talks and sessions by over 250 authors and speakers, including historian William Dalrymple, author and former chief minister of Karnataka Veerappa Moily, poet and novelist Jeet Thayil, researcher and journalist Akshaya Mukul and author-politician Arun Shourie.

This year, BLF has tied up with literary network Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, to include international writers into the fest. It will cover a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics, like history, biographies, translations, literature, religion, mythology, travel, art and music, feminism, food, cinema, publishing, and technology. The festival’s theme is decided by the wide variety of books and topics covered in it, says Shinie Antony, cofounder and festival director.

After two years of following a hybrid model, the fest returns to an offline format. “Last two years, like the rest of the world, we went hybrid, and operated between offline and online. This is almost like hosting the very first edition, since the fest is coming back in full force after two years of global uncertainty,” she adds.

However, she believes, in a rapidly changing world — especially post-pandemic — where technology and digital platforms now have a major impact on the literature we write and surround ourselves with. LitMart, a platform for budding writers to present their story pitches to a jury of publishers, editors and literary agents, returns. In a first for the festival, there will also be a pitch platform for screenwriters called ScreenLit. On its jury will be screenwriter Alankrita Shrivastava, filmmaker Natesh Hegde and director Kamal KM, among others. The shortlisted 15 entries for ScreenLit, will get an opportunity to make connections for potential screenplay opportunities.

Entries for both these platforms closed earlier this week. “We are swamped by the response,” says Shinie.

In association with Atta Galatta, a city-based bookstore and literary event hub, BLF will also give out the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize to honour the best of English and Kannada writing, in fiction and non-fiction categories. There will also be a session in partnership with the The New India Foundation for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize for the best non-fiction book on contemporary India.

BLF is also honouring the life of late actor Puneeth Rajkumar through venue names inspired by him, like Gandhadagudi, Raajakumara, and Yuvaratna.

*Bangalore Literature Festival is on from December 3 to 4, at The Lalith Ashok, Sheshadripuram. To register, visit bangaloreliteraturefestival. org

Kids’ lit

This year, the festival will also have a separate section for children, called Children|Literature|Fun – (C|L|F). It will include two forums — an activity stage and a literary stage. There will be multiple workshops, storytelling sessions, musical performances and games, throughout the festival for children. Some of the sessions are The Wishing Tree by Amar Chitra Katha, Build a story by Art Sparks, and World’s youngest historian by Zac Sangeet. It is open to kids of all ages.

Sessions

December 3

Why We Travel: Pico Iyer (10 am)

‘Tejo Tungabhadra’: Vasudhendra, Maithreyi nKarnoor with Karthik Venkatesh (12 pm)

‘A handful of sky’: An Autobiography’ (A Handful of Sky): Veerappa Moily with B. M. Haneef (4.30 pm)

Holding a Mirror to Society: Barkha Dutt, P Sainath, Sashi Kumar with Bachi Karkaria (7.45 pm)

December 4

Stories I Must Tell: Kabir Bedi with Karthika VK (10 am)

The Magic of The Lost Story: Sudha Murty with Manu Pillai (11.45 am)

‘The Great Tech Game’: Anirudh Suri (3pm)

‘Open Book’: Kubbra Sait with Stutee Ghosh (5.15 pm)

To see full schedule, visit bangaloreliteraturefestival. org