Over 65 writers to take part in 6th Kolkata Literature Festival

Over 65 writers, including three established Dalit writers, will enrich the audience at the sixth Kolkata Literature Festival (KLF) which is part of the 43rd International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF), organisers said on Monday.

"Over 65 writers, both established and new from 9 countries including India, will attend this unique literature festival that is organised as part of the book fair that attracts nearly 2.4 million visitors," Sujata Sen, Director of KLF said.

The 12-day book fair, beginning January 31, is slated to be inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the presence of Euda Morales, an author of Guatemala, Tridib Chatterjee, said secretary of Publishers and Booksellers Guild.

Sixth Kolkata Literature Festival will be held from February 7 to 9 along with the book fair which closes on February 11.There will be speakers from nine countries, including India.

Sen said there will be around 24 sessions on varied topics such as 'changing face of publishing', 'security of the nation', '50 years of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne' (Satyajit Ray's film) and so on.

"Arvind Gupta, a former Deputy National Security Advisor, has written a book 'How India Manages Its National Security' will attend the festival," she said.

However, Sen refused to divulge any other names of writers who would take part in the festival.

The central American nation Guatemala -- the heart of the Mayan World -- is the focal country this time along with 26 participating countries such as Russia, Costa Rica, Spain, Scotland, Australia, Argentina and Bangladesh.

February 1 will be marked as the Guatemala Day and the Asoke Sarkar Memorial Lecture will also be delivered.

The fair would have halls named after eminent writers Nirendranath Chakraborty, Dibyendu Palit, Atin Bandopadhyay and Pinaki Thakur who passed away recently.

Noted Bengali author Mani Shankar Mukhopadhyay, who writes under the pen name Shankar, will be given a special award this year.

"We have a new slogan 'Buy books and win a library' to encourage further reading. Lucky winners will get books of their choice worth Rs 1 lakh," Chatterjee said.

As the fair's regular venue Milan Mela is undergoing renovation, the fair would be held at the Central Park in Salt Lake, and stalls of approximately 600 publishers and 200 small magazines will be set up.

--IANS

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