A lit meet that is a much-loved part of Kolkata Book Fair starts on Thursday.
The ninth edition of Kolkata Literature Festival, held in association with The Telegraph, is billed as “a space to not just debate and discuss, but to ideate and imagine”.
The three-day festival, to be held at a sprawling auditorium on the northern corner of Central Park in Salt Lake, the venue of the Book Fair, will be a gathering of authors, artistes and bookworms.
Since its debut in 2014, KLF has been offering discussions on fiction, history, biographies, cinema, the arts, culture, music and politics.
“We are expecting a record number of visitors this year as people have been confined for too long and want to be out and listen to inspiring writers,” an organiser said.
The festival will be inaugurated on Thursday by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose. Bratya Basu, playwright, film and theatre director and the state’s education minister, will be present at the opening ceremony.
Quizmaster and educationist Barry O’Brien — whose new book, The Anglo Indians: A Portrait of a Community, tells the social, cultural, and political history of the Anglo-Indians in India — and author-activist Jael Silliman will discuss the “ever-burning question of identity”.
A session titled “Shikor Chhenrar 75 Bochhor” (a rough translation: 75 years of rootlessness) will feature author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, academic Pabitra Sarkar and Sahitya Akademi winning author Amar Mitra.
More than one session — featuring the likes of Sanjaya Baru, media adviser to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2008; Sumantra Bose, author and political scientist; and historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee — will discuss the evolving idea and history of India.
Author-publisher David Davidar and Sujata Sen, director of the festival, will talk about the trajectory of Indian literature over the last century.
Writer-biographers Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Ram Kamal Mukherjee and Sangeeta Datta will reflect on writing about famous lives, while authors Anupama Mohan, Bernhard Kammel and Iffat Nawaz will talk about weaving words into stories.
The annual Apeejay Jit Paul Memorial Lecture, a highlight of the KLF, will be delivered by Kunal Sarkar, cardiac surgeon, debater and raconteur.
“KLF has always been known as much for the diversity of the audience that flocks to its sessions as the range of delegates who participate. From stalwarts in the literary arts to brave new voices who are writing for a greater cause, from young people who are just beginning to explore the wonders of reading to voracious readers, to invigorating Bangla literary sessions, KLF makes space for all,” said festival director Sen, who is also CEO of Future Hope, a charitable organisation that works for street children.