The hills get ready for Kumaon Lit Fest

New Delhi, Oct 21 ( IANS) The idyllic locales of Dhanachuli and Nainital in Uttarakhand's Kumaon region will play host to around 120 stars from the field of literature, media, education, art, cinema and music from October 23 to 27 as part of the inaugural Kumaon Literary Festival.

"The Kumaon Literary Festival is the first one of international scale and standards to be held in a rural area. Dhanachuli is being developed into a smart village - through creative initiatives. In this intolerant society, the fest will discuss the culture of ban. Author Anuja Chauhan, who supports ban on porn, and others who are against it, will be sharing the same stage to discuss their views," its prime mover, Sumant Batra, told IANS.A carefully drawn-up list of speakers from India and abroad are set to brainstorm on history, art, culture, cinema, literature and politics among others.

Founded by Sumant Batra, an eminent lawyer and senior consultant to IMF, the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) has been conceptualised and planned by a group comprising distinguished personalities like Janhavi Prasada (filmmaker), Anuj Bahri (literary agent), Barkha Dutt (journalist) and others. The KLF is also supported by UN Women and the Uttarakhand Tourism Board.

Among the speakers at the festival will be authors Shekhar Pathak, Anuja Chauhan, Mrinal Pande and Namita Gokhale and film personalities Rajat Kapoor and Fahad Samar, among others.

Dhanachuli, an enchanting little village in the Himalayas, will host the first three days of the event, before it moves to Nainital. Arguably the first travelling literary festival in the country, it would host top authors, cinema and media personalities, political commentators and opinion makers, at Te Aroha, Dhanachuli, an enchanting little village in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand. It will then travel to Abbotsford, Nainital.

The KLF will also be the first literary festival in India which will have its own mobile application K-Lit, which allows users to watch the fest live, receive live updates and pictures and also allow them to interact with the speakers.