The veteran actor will read from Tagore’s Shesher Kobita and dwell on its continuing relevance on January 23.
What: Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, co-organised by Victoria Memorial Hall, in association with The Telegraph.
When: January 22 to 27
Where: Most sessions will be held at the Son-et-Lumiere venue and Western Quadrangle of Victoria Memorial. Calcutta Club will host a performance by Shankar Mahadevan on the evening of January 23, a couple of sessions on the morning of January 26 and an evening discussion on cinema later that day.
Entry: Through the East Gate of Victoria Memorial, opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. Entry passes will be available at the gate free of charge on all days of Kalam and are valid for the entire festival. The Shankar Mahadevan performance at Calcutta Club will have ticketed entry. Tickets are available at Calcutta Club and Gameplan office (19B Shakespeare Sarani, 033 22821960-61).
Afterwords: Days of discussions will give over to evenings of theatre, music, film and more, at Victoria Memorial and Calcutta Club.
Inauguration: Since Monday is Saraswati Puja, for the first time in its seven years, Kalam will be inaugurated in the evening, starting at 4pm. Expect a surprise session with some iconic wordsmiths! This will be followed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus holding forth on microfinance, and sessions on politics and the Partition.
JKLM: This year Junior Kolkata Literary Meet will take place as part of Kalam, from January 23 to 25. Expect favourite authors like Ruskin Bond and the internationally beloved mouse, Gruffalo, and its creator, Julia Donaldson, among many others.
Book signings: Bookstore partner Story will set up a stall at Mohor Kunja (just outside the East Gate of Victoria Memorial), from where you can pick up books and get them signed by the authors.
Social media: Take lots of pictures under the winter sun. Tag @TataSteelKalam and @ttindia on Twitter and @tatasteelkalam on Instagram. Use #kalam2018
Further details: Look up the Kolkata Literary Meet and Junior Kolkata Literary Meet pages on Facebook for the full schedule.
The poet-lyricist will read from and discuss the works of Jan Nisar Akhtar and Kaifi Azmi on January 25 with wife Shabana Azmi, and speak on the nuances of a poem at Calcutta Club the following morning.
The Booker-nominated novelist and poet will discuss his latest work, The Book of Chocolate Saints, on
January 23.
The renowned Tamil writer will talk censorship with fellow writers Kannan Sundaram, Kiran Nagarkar and Manu Joseph on January 25, and discuss his new novel, The Goat Thief, the next afternoon.
Our favourite storyteller will take us through the books he read as a child on January 24, and discuss with Shabana Azmi his novella A Flight of Pigeons, which became the Hindi film Junoon starring Shashi Kapoor, on January 25.
The actress-director will discuss her critically acclaimed directorial debut, Death in the Gunj, on the final day, January 27.
