It’s that time of the year again when Bengaluru revels in literature. Fifth edition of Bengaluru Literature Festival is here again, with a line up of exciting events that are sure to tickle the brains, with many who’s-who in the world of literature attending it as panelists and guests.
According to a press note from the organisers, Bangalore Literature Festival is all set for a fifth edition on December 17 and 18 at the Hotel Royal Orchid lawns on Old Airport Road, Bengaluru.
Building on the success of over the past four years, this year Bangalore Literature Festival will feature a host of distinguished speakers, authors and artistes including Ramachandra Guha, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi, Bezwda Wilson, Kanhaiya Kumar, Ramya, Gurcharan Das, Arup Kumar Dutta, Sanjeev Sanyal, Rajiv Malhotra, Bezwada Wilson, K R Meera, Vivek Shanbhag, Jerry Rao, Omkar Goswami, Prathibha Nandakumar, Salma, Margaret Alva and several others.
The Festival will be inaugurated by Shashi Deshpande, Sudha Murty and KV Tirumalesh. This year the Festival will witness authors engaging the audiences with diverse themes. Highlights include Shashi Tharoor discussing his latest book Inglorious Empire; filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan speaking about his life and times; Sudha Murthy engaging Chetan Bhagat in a conversation about women wanting it all; actor Ashish Vidyarthi talking about his life with publisher Ashok Chopra. Sunday evening will see renowned actor politician Shatrughan Sinha make a rare appearance in the city, his wit at Bengaluru’s service.
Children|Literature|Fun
This year too Bangalore Literature Festival sticks to its promise of something for every reader. This includes two full days of children’s programming called ‘Children|Literature|Fun (C|L|F)’ with workshops, storytelling sessions, creative games and more. Highlights include sessions by renowned authors Jeeva Raghunath, Roopa Pai and Shweta Taneja, workshops on hand puppet making, clowning, story writing, doll puppetry, illustrations and more, also an Amar Chitra Katha themed treasure hunt, literature quiz for school kids and a host of other literary activities for children.
An interesting addition to the children’s programming this year is Open Mic, where kids are given a platform and 3 minutes to sing, speak, recite or tell a story of their choice. Another highlight of C|L|F is the focus on journalism for children with a workshop on journalism for young kids by Co Media Lab (a Radio Active and Citizen Matters initiative) and a Q&A session with experienced journalists. Painstakingly curated by Vikram Sridhar, this promises to take not just children but adults too by storm.
Media experts in attendance at the Bangalore Literature Festival this year, include Shiv Visvanathan, Mini Menon, Siddharth Varadarajan, BV Rao, Josy Joseph, G Sampath, Prasanna Viswanathan, Narendar Pani, Aakar Patel, Mihir Sharma, Shradha Sharma, Neena Gopal and Anita Raghavan.
Young authors will be represented by Kanishk Tharoor, Saikat Majumdar, Rosalyn D’Mello, Manu Pillai, Kiran Manral and others.
Leading talents from the world of publishing and lit fests like Ashok Chopra, Ananth Padmanabhan, Milee Ashwarya, Deepthi Talwar, Manjiri Prabhu, Sumant Batrra, Trisha De Niyogi, Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, Ajitha GS, Rashmi Menon, Trisha Bora and Ajay Mago will be here in full force.
The Mythology Panel will bring you Anand Neelakantan, Madhavi Mahadevan, Anuja Chandramouli and Mani Rao. Foreign presence includes Paul Affeld, Sally Breen, Carlos Pizzati, Claus Heimes, Alan Johnson and Roswitha Joshi.
This fifth edition of the Festival showcases young talent in Kannada writing with eminent writers Vivek Shanbhag, Vasudhendra, Prathibha Nandakumar, Chandan Gowda, Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi, S. Diwakar, MS Sriram, Sridhar Gowda, Sabitha Koraga and others who will be speaking about their work and that of writers from our state.
True to the Festival’s moorings, several city authors are supporting the event and participating in the Festival. Leading names include Sudha Murthy, Ramachandra Guha, Chandan Gowda, Jahnavi Barua, Preeti Shenoy, Anuja Chauhan, Ryan Lobo, Raghu Karnad and Niret Alva. Others from the city include Andaleeb Wajid, Nandita Bose, Jane De Suza, Rachna Singh and Sajita Nair.
Future of Indian Cooking with Sanjeev Kapoor
This year there will be a session on The Future of Indian Cooking with celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Manu Chandra; Getting a Good Night’s Sleep with renowned sleep expert Dr Manvir Bhatia; on erotica, on digital media, a talk by Magsaysay award winning activist Bezwada Wilson; a discussion on Reclaiming Our Civilization’s Heritage with T. V. Mohandas Pai and Rajiv Malhotra; A Discussion on UR Ananthamurthy’s Bara; conversations on Contrarian Views with Aakar Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar and Ramya.
The Festival has also lined up interesting music and dance performances including ballets by The Lewis Foundation of Classical Ballet, a blues and folk concert by Guru Rewben Mashangva, who will perform a tribute to the Nobel literature laureate, Bob Dylan and an evening performance by poet, actor and musician Piyush Misra.
The Bangalore Literature Festival and Atta Galatta, the city-based bookstore and art-literature space, will also give out the Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival | Book Prize to honour the best of English writing.
The Festival opens at 930 am on both days. Entry is free and open to all via registration on the website www.bangaloreliteraturefestival.org or via Facebook/ Twitter. http://Facebook.com/BlrLitFest. Pre-registration is highly recommended. Full list of events, schedule, participating author bios and other information is available on the website.
“This year the festival is completely out of the box. The ideologies of most speakers are passionate, they occupy the intellectual space on their own terms. The Bangalore Literature Festival belongs to the quiet thinker in actors, writers, artistes and readers in 2016. Interactive installations on reading/writing, the big, fat party for children of all ages, and the song and dance – from balle, to Dylan, from folk music to Krishna natya, it is all new, all you,” says festival director Shinie Antony.
The festival team comprises of Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Subodh Sankar and Surya HK, apart from Vikram Sridhar and Shinie Antony. Festival advisors include V. Ravichandar and Harish Bijoor.
About Bangalore Literature Festival
The Bangalore Literature Festival celebrates the creative spirit of Bangalore and commemorates the literary diversity it offers, bringing it in conversation with the best minds in the world of literature. The 2016 edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival is a two-day literary extravaganza that will bring together some of the biggest names in literature – within and outside India.
The objective of the Bangalore Literature Festival is to put together a literary experience that brings writers – both established and aspiring, readers, publishers, students and young professionals and other stakeholders of the city together on a common platform and create a compelling space for engaging and thought-provoking discussions on literature and life.
Over 100 writers from India and abroad, leading Indian and global publishers and art and culture organizations will be represented at the 2016 edition of the Festival. The Bangalore Literature Festival has become the most sought after and must-attend event for readers and writers from Bangalore, India and the world, with its enriching and stimulating panel discussions, interviews and literary sessions.
More information at:
http://bangaloreliteraturefestival.org | http://Facebook.com/BlrLitFest | http://Twitter.com/BlrLitFest
Bengaluru Literature Festival Schedule: Day 1, December 17, Saturday
|
Time |
Event |
Location |
|
930am-10am |
Festival Inaugural | Shashi Deshpande, Sudha Murty, KV Tirumalesh |
Stage 1 and Stage 2 |
|
10 am- 11 am |
Inglorious Empire: The Reality Of The British Raj | Sanjeev Sanyal in conversation with Shashi Tharoor |
Stage 1 |
|
10 am-11.30 am |
Kaadootantra: A Wildlife Safari With Kaadoo | Ages: 4+ |
C | L | F |
|
10 am -12 noon |
Young Journalist Workshop by Co Media Lab: A Radio Active and Citizen Matters Initiative *| 12+ |
The Red Couch |
|
10.30 am – 11.30 am |
The Enduring Magic Of The Short Story | KR Meera, Murzban Shroff and Vivek Shanbhag with Jahnavi Barua |
Stage 2 |
|
11 am – 12 noon |
Having It All: The New Indian Girl | Sudha Murthy in conversation with Chetan Bhagat |
Stage 1 |
|
11.30 am – 12.30 pm |
Courage And Commitment | Anuja Chauhan and Niret Alva in conversation with Margaret Alva |
Stage 2 |
|
11.30 pm- 1 pm |
The Never Ending Story: A Writing Workshop For Children With Andaleeb Wajid And Sajita Nair | Ages: 9+ |
C | L | F |
|
12 noon – 1pm |
Publisher Tales: The Making Of A Bestseller | Ajitha GS, Ashok Chopra, Deepthi Talwar and Rashmi Menon with Milee Ashwarya |
Stage 1 |
|
12 noon – 12.30 pm |
Is Adultery Love? The Dilemma in Shadow & Soul | Lakshmi Sankar in conversation with Nandita Bose |
The Red Couch |
|
12 noon – 1.30 pm |
Illustrating My World: A Workshop with Soumya Menon | 6+ |
Activity Stage |
|
12.30 pm – 1 pm |
Anita Raghavan |
The Red Couch |
|
1pm – 2pm |
Literature And The Democratic Imagination: A Discussion of UR Ananthamurthy’s Bara | Prashant Keshavmurthy, Saikat Majumdar, Shankar Ramaswami and Shiv Visvanathan with Chandan Gowda |
Stage 1 |
|
1pm – 2pm |
Shivers Down My Spine: Spooky Tales with Shweta Taneja | Ages: 8+ |
C | L | F |
|
1 pm – 1.30 pm |
And This Is The Way The Kachori Crumbles: Rachna Singh goes stand-up on Band Baja Boys |
The Red Couch |
|
1.30 pm – 2 pm |
The Art Of Not Reading with Sabah Carrim |
The Red Couch |
|
1.30 pm – 2 pm |
Hand Puppet Building – A Workshop by Paul Affeld* | All Ages |
Activity Stage |
|
1.30 pm – 2.30 pm |
Literature From The Margins | Chandani, Revathi and Shilok Mukkati with Pratibha Nandakumar |
Stage 2 |
|
2 pm – 2.30 pm |
Where The Story Takes You | Rachna Singh in conversation with Anand Neelakantan |
Stage 2 |
|
2 pm – 2.30 pm |
Out Of The Pit – The Curse Of Manual Scavenging In India | Bezwada Wilson |
Stage 1 |
|
2 pm – 2.30 pm |
My miserable life in Mysore: Readings from Technoshamans and from the new collection of short stories A History of Objects by Carlo Pizzati |
The Red Couch |
|
2 pm – 3 pm |
Elephants and Literature for Children | Vasudev Murthy in conversation with Surendra Varma |
C | L | F |
|
2.30 pm – 3.30 pm |
Askew: A Short Biography Of Bangalore | Naresh Narasimhan, Prakash Belawadi and V. Ravichandar with Vasanthi Hariprakash |
Stage 1 |
|
2.30pm – 3 pm |
Translating Karnataka | Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi and Sabitha Koraga with Sridhar Gowda |
Stage 2 |
|
2.30pm – 3 pm |
Out Of Bounds: Anglo-Indian Literature And The Geography of Displacement | Alan Johnson |
The Red Couch |
|
3 pm – 4 pm |
Mukhamukham: Face To Face With Adoor | Amrit Gangar in conversation with Adoor Gopalakrishnan |
Stage 2 |
|
3 pm – 4 pm |
The Gita Is For Children, Really?, with Roopa Pai | Age: 10-70 |
C | L | F |
|
3 pm – 4 pm |
Clowning: Harish Bhuvan | 4+ |
Activity Stage |
|
3 pm – 3.30 pm |
On Forgotten Queens And Consorts: Manu S. Pillai reads from The Ivory Throne |
The Red Couch |
|
3.30 pm- 4 pm |
The Sinister World Of Weather Weapons: Aroon Raman reads from Pralaya |
The Red Couch |
|
3.30 pm – 4.30 pm |
Mythofiction: Can Epics Be Tampered With? | Anand Neelakantan, Anuja Chandramouli and Madhavi Mahadevan with Mani Rao |
Stage 1 |
|
4 pm – 5 pm |
The Many Roles We Play | Ashok Chopra in conversation with Ashish Vidyarthi |
Stage 2 |
|
4 pm – 5 pm |
Odd’ R Eve Tournament: The Game of Hand Cricket | All Ages |
Activity Stage |
|
4 pm -5.30 pm |
Amar Chitra Katha’s Mega Treasure Hunt and Quiz | Ages: 6-70 |
C | L | F |
|
4 m – 4.30 pm |
Humour In The Age Of Intolerance: A reading by Murzban F. Shroff |
The Red Couch |
|
4.30pm – 5.30 pm |
The Theatre Of Demonetization | Narendar Pani, Sanjeev Sanyal and Shiv Visvanathan with Mihir Sharma |
Stage 1 |
|
4.30pm – 5.30 pm |
Love Is A Four Letter Word | A fiery chat between Andaleeb Wajid and Jane De Suza |
The Red Couch |
|
5 pm – 5.30 pm |
Padaki Haasya Sanje | Achutha Rao Padaki |
Stage 2 |
|
5.30pm – 6 pm |
Ask Me Anything on Journalism with BV Rao, G. Sampath and Josy Joseph | Ages: 8+ |
C | L | F |
|
5.30pm – 6.30 pm |
Culture Wars: Narratives Of Left, Right And Twitter | Aakar Patel, Manu S. Pillai, Mini Menon and Sumant Batra with Saikat Majumdar |
Stage 1 |
|
5.30 pm – 6 pm |
It’s All In The Planets | Kanchana Banerjee in conversation with Preeti Shenoy |
Stage 2 |
|
5.30 pm – 6 pm |
Want And Wonder | Roswitha Joshi on cross-country relationships |
The Red Couch |
|
5.30 pm – 6.30 pm |
Finger Puppetry with Play Jam | 4+ |
Activity Stage |
|
6 pm – 6.30 pm |
Vasudev Murthy |
The Red Couch |
|
6 pm – 7.30 pm |
Dancing Tales – Bal Krishna for children with Aparna Chandar , Poornima Kaushik and Vikram Sridhar | Ages: 4+ |
C | L | F |
|
6.30pm – 7.30 pm |
On A Different Pitch: Five Forms Of Cricketing Partisanship | Ramachandra Guha |
Stage 1 |
|
6.30pm – 7.30 pm |
Noisy Neighbor: Bangalore Meets Berlin – Hand Puppetry And Hip-Hop | Paul Affeld and Gubbi |
Stage 2 |
|
7.30 pm – 8.30 pm |
Blowin’ In The Wind | A Tribute To Bob Dylan By Guru Rewben Mashangva |
Stage 1 and Stage 2 |
|
Time |
Event
|
Location
|
|
930am-10am |
Ballet |
All |
|
10 am – 10.30 am |
A Good Night’s Sleep | Sumant Batra in conversation with Dr. Manvir Bhatia |
Stage 1 |
|
10 am- 11 am |
Sanatan Soul, New Stories | Vani Mahesh in conversation with Amish Tripathi |
Stage 2 |
|
10 am- 11 am |
Drum Circle with Storipur | All Ages |
C | L | F |
|
10.30 am – 11 pm |
Ask Me Anything – How do I Become a Published Author | Trisha De Niyogi, Nirmal Kanti Bhattacherjee (Niyogi Books) and Trisha Bora (Juggernaut) |
The Red Couch |
|
10.30 am – 11.30 am |
Living In Other Lands | Alan Johnson, Carlo Pizzati, Claus Heimes, Manjiri Prabhu and Roswitha Joshi with Sally Breen |
Stage 1 |
|
11 am – 12 noon |
Ooh n’ Aah: Talking Erotica | G. Sampath, Gurcharan Das, Rosalyn D’Mello and Vinod Pande with Ananth Padmanabhan |
Stage 2 |
|
11 am – 11.30 am |
Blogs To Columns To Books: Writing As A Teenager | Trusha Ganesh |
The Red Couch |
|
11 am – 12 noon |
Tell-along Tales with Aunty Jeeva | All Ages |
C | L | F |
|
11.30 am – 12 noon |
KR Meera reads from Aarachaar. |
The Red Couch |
|
11.30 am- 12 noon |
Mohanaswamy – A Compelling Account Of Being Gay in Modern India: Rashmi Terdal and Vasudhendra with Rōmal Lāisram |
Stage 1 |
|
12 noon – 1.30 pm |
Bookasura: Quizzes at BLF with Nexus Consulting | Mini-Meals – The School Quiz | Ages: 8+ |
C | L | F |
|
12 noon – 1 pm |
Whose Water Is It Anyway: Rivers Of India | Arup Kumar Dutta, Kalyanaraman Durgadas and Sanjeev Sanyal with Dr. Veena Srinivasan |
Stage 2 |
|
12 noon – 12.30 pm |
Unending Sea Of Stories | MS Sriram in conversation with S Diwakar |
Stage 1 |
|
12 noon – 12.30 pm |
The Vernacular Life Of English | Saikat Majumdar in conversation with Vivek Shanbhag |
The Red Couch |
|
12 non to 1.30 pm |
Travel The World With Globetrippers | 4+ |
Activity Stage |
|
12.30 pm – 1.30 pm |
Morality Tales: Rajat Gupta And Others | Anita Raghavan and Josy Joseph with Mihir Sharma |
Stage 1 |
|
12.30 pm – 1 pm |
Ask Me Anything – Love Me Tinder | Kiran Manral and Sally Breen on dating woes |
The Red Couch |
|
1 pm – 1.30 pm |
Maitreyee Chowdhury |
The Red Couch |
|
1 pm – 2 pm |
New Media: The Times They Are A-Changin’ | Mini Menon, Shradha Sharma and Siddharth Varadarajan with BV Rao |
Stage 2 |
|
1.30 pm – 2 pm |
Do You Really Die? | A Talk by TS Viswanathan |
The Red Couch |
|
1.30 pm – 2.30 pm |
Grandparents and Us: A Karadi Tale | Ages: 4-70 |
C | L | F |
|
1.30 pm – 2.30 pm |
Standing On An Apple Box | Premila Paul in conversation with Aishwaryaa Rajnikanth Dhanush |
Stage 1 |
|
2 pm – 2.30 pm |
Saving The Pillars Of Salzburg From Destruction | Manjiri Prabhu |
The Red Couch |
|
2 pm – 3 pm |
What’s Cooking? The Future Of Indian Food | Antoine Lewis, Manu Chandra and Sanjeev Kapoor with Suresh Hinduja |
Stage 2 |
|
2.30 pm – 3.30 pm |
Tales Of Trade | Jerry Rao and Omkar Goswami with Gurcharan Das |
Stage 1 |
|
2.30pm – 3 pm |
Dr Seuss | A reading by Kartik Iyer |
The Red Couch |
|
2.30pm – 4 pm |
Puppets and Shadows by Imaginostory | Ages: 5+ |
C | L | F |
|
3pm – 4pm |
The Art Of The Heart | Kanchana Banerjee, Kiran Manral, Nandita Bose and Sabah Carrim with Vasudev Murthy |
Stage 2 |
|
3 pm – 5 pm |
LitMart | Jury: Ajay Mago (Om Books), Ajitha GS (HarperCollins), Ashok Chopra (Hay House), Deepthi Talwar (Westland), Milee Ashwarya (Penguin Random House), Nirmal Kanthi Bhattacharjee (Niyogi Books), Rashmi Menon (Amaryllis), Trisha Bora (Juggernaut) and Trisha De Niyogi (Niyogi Books), Sumant Batra and Sally Breen. |
The Red Couch |
|
3.30 pm – 4 pm |
Don Quixote Today | Raghu Karnad in conversation with Ryan Lobo |
Stage 1 |
|
4 pm – 5 pm |
India – Reclaiming Our Civilization’s Heritage | T. V. Mohandas Pai in conversation with Rajiv Malhotra |
Stage 1 |
|
4 pm – 4.30 pm |
Adventures with Arup Da | Ages: 4+ |
C | L | F |
|
4 pm – 5 pm |
Swimmer Among The Stars | G. Sampath in conversation with Kanishk Tharoor |
Stage 2 |
|
4.30pm – 6 pm |
Into The Box: Indian Doll Puppetry | Ages: 4+ |
C | L | F |
|
5 pm – 5.30 pm |
Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize 2016 |
Stage 1 |
|
5 pm – 5.30 pm |
Rajiv Gandhi: Chronicle Of A Death Foretold | Josy Joseph in conversation with Neena Gopal |
Stage 2 |
|
5.30pm- 6.30 pm |
Contrarian Views | Aakar Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar, Prasanna Viswanathan and Ramya with Harish Bijoor |
Stage 1 |
|
5.30 pm – 6 pm |
Verse and Ways: Poetry Through Times | Prathibha Nandakumar and Vivek Shanbhag in conversation |
Stage 2 |
|
5.30 pm – 7.30 pm |
Bookasura: Quizzes at BLF with Nexus Consulting | Full Meals – The Open Quiz |
The Red Couch |
|
6 pm – 6.30 pm |
Women And Desire | Poets Mani Rao and Salma with Maitreyee Chowdhury |
Stage 2 |
|
6 pm – 6.30 pm |
Ballet |
C | L | F |
|
6.30pm – 7.30 pm |
Khamosh! | Bharathi Pradhan in conversation with Shatrughan Sinha |
Stage 1 and 2 |
|
7.30 pm – 8.30 pm |
Raat Ke Musafir: Piyush Mishra in concert |
Stage 1 and 2 |
|
7.30 pm – 8.30 pm |
Badass Women: Changing The World | Jane De Suza, Kiran Manral, Rachna Singh and Sajita Nair with Andaleeb Wajid |
The Red Couch |
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