Bangalore: 'Namma' literature fest 2.0 gets bigger, better

This year’s Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) promises to be twice as big as the last one. As many as 120 writers, including five top contemporary writers from Germany, Bas Botcher, Tilman Rammstedt, Chirstopher Kloebel, Saskya Jain and Abbas Khider, will be at the second edition of the three-day fest starting September 27 at Crowne Plaza in Velankani Park, Electronics City.

Former editor of Granta Ian Jack, French-Occitan poet Aurélia Lassaque, writers from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: Babar Ayaz, Mira Hashmi, Kanak Mani Dixit, Farah Ghuznawi and Ashok Ferry, are other international voices that will be heard at the BLF 2013.

“Regional languages too will see more emphasis with sessions on Beary, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani, some of the languages of Karnataka which have a strong oral tradition but no script,” festival co-founder and author Vikram Sampath said.

The organisers have tied up with the Sahitya Akademi to bring a few leading Indian language writers, including Ramakant Rath (Odia), Nabaneeta Dev Sen (Bengali), Ashokamitran (Tamil), Ashok Vajpeyi (Hindi), Govind Mishra (Hindi), K Satchidanandan (Malayalam), Vempalli Gangadhara (Telugu), Farooq Shaheen (Kashmiri), Dharmakirti Sumant (Marathi) and Arindam Borkataki (Assamese).

Such has been the success of the BLF debut that Kashmiri writer Shaheen postponed his wedding just to be at the festival this time, Sampath said.

A discussion on cinematic adaptations of biographies by the Bhag Milkha Bhag team of actor Farhan Akhtar, director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and writer-lyricist Prasoon Joshi is another highlight on the menu. Baradwaj Rangan, Sidharth Bhatia, Sharmishta Gooptu, MK Raghavendra, Kishwar Desai, Bhawana Somaaya and Jayant Kaikini will also be discussing writing on cinema.

Gulzar, UR Ananthamurthy and Shobhaa De, who saw full-houses last year, will be returning this time to join other literary bigwigs like Ramachandra Guha, William Dalrymple, Rajmohan Gandhi, David Davidar and Nilanjana Roy.

Beyond the usual literary fare, there will be a session on spirituality and writing by Sri Sri Ravishankar, stand-up comedies, performance poetry sessions, short-film screenings and workshops for children. Writer and BLF cofounder Shinie Antony said they have collaborated with Pratham Books, Bookalore, and Amar Chitra Katha to organise several sessions and activities for children.

And if you are tired feeding your intellect with back-to-back sessions, unlike last year, there is also a food court this time.

BLF will open at 10am on September 27, with parallel sessions in three tents at the lawns of Crowne Plaza, Velankani Park, Electronics City. Entry is free for all.