Celebrating the word

The wait for literature aficionados is finally over. The city will be witnessing its first literary fest, the Pune International Literary Fest (PILF) in association with dna, on September 20 at MIT, Kothrud. An initiative by city-based authors, Sonja Chandrachud and Manjiri Prabhu, the event is a celebration of the written word.

Delving details on the plan, Sonja said, “Pune is the Oxford of the East, this in itself makes it imperative that we showcase and celebrate both intellectual literary writing and modern path-breaking fiction. PILF will strive to bring to Pune a strong line-up of eminent, celebrated and emerging writers, critics and social commentators from the English, Marathi, young adults and film industry.”

While most literature festivals concentrate on English (and sometimes Hindi) writing, PILF will also bring Marathi to the fold, for Pune is known for its strong Marathi culture. 

Sonja said, “Many Marathi greats have always straddled both languages with great ease and we hope that in our small efforts to bring to PILF a few Marathi greats, we will be able to create new roads of synergy between the two languages.”

With celebrated names like Kiran Nagarkar, Lord Meghnad Desai, Shobhaa De, Ashok Banker, Hussain Zaidi and more, the fest already smells of a brilliant potpourri of stimulating ideas and thoughts. And their enthusiasm is addictive. Author of Dongri to Dubai, Hussain Zaidi canned his trip to Gulf to be a part of PILF.
He said, “I am happy that we finally have a fest on the doorstep of Mumbai with Pune being so close. People in Pune are well-read and curious, so I am really looking forward to the talk with Khushwant Singh Ahluwalia on the tales of underworld. I like being the Jackie Chan of non-fiction.”

While Hussain is kicked about the Khushwant Singh Ahluwalia session, author Annie Zaidi is looking forward to discovering various kind of writings and writers from across the state. “It is exciting when you meet and find voices and writers which you are not familiar with. Our reading is often driven by what we have heard or stumbled upon. So, literary fests serve as a platform to scout beyond that. It provides a taster for something new,” Annie said.

Highlights:

The PILF author line-up comprises both eminent and emerging : Kiran Nagarkar, Shobhaa De, Lord Meghnad Desai, Ashwin Sanghi, Ashok Banker, Sriram Raghavan, Anjum Rajbali, Hussain Zaidi, Khushwant Singh Ahluwalia, Akash Banerjee, to Rukhmini Bhaya Nair and Bhawana Somaaya.

The ‘Art of Translation’: A unique session where the focus of the discussion will be to engage the audience in the dire need for the young to re-connect with their roots.

‘Marathi Goes Global’: This session will draw attention to the emerging power wielded by Marathi literature. “Marathi readers will reaffirm their artistry with the presence of great writers and poets like Achyut Godbole, Shyam Manohar, Saleel Wagh, Sanjay Joshi, and Shri Sada Dumbare. Top Marathi publishing houses will share what makes for great Marathi literature. While Mehta Publishers will tell us why e-books are making waves and changing the rules of the regional publishing game. The creators of the famous Chintoo comic strip will be conducting a workshop for young adults,” said Sonja.

Don’t miss it!
The PILF schedule and author line-up is on www.pilf.in and is updated regularly.
Event passes are available at four major Crossword stores (Senapati Bapat Road, Sohrab Hall, Phoenix Marketcity and Amanora Town Centre) for sale, apart from the venue, MIT campus Kothrud