60 speakers to attend Apeejay Kolkata Lit Fest in Jan

The 10th edition of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF) will present an array of speakers - from authors to historians, and from actors to politicians - to be held in the city next month.

A total of 60 speakers would attend the AKLF, a three -day meet of literary minds from across the world at different heritage venues of Park Street, and deliver talks on diverse issues, AKLF Director Maina Bhagat told a press meet here Wednesday.

Authors Upamanyu Chatterjee and Devdutt Pattanaik, historian Ramchandra Guha, columnist Shobhaa De, actor Naseeruddin Shah, director Ratna Pathak Shah, biographer- researcher Rajmohan Gandhi and politician Shashi Tharoor are some of the glitterati to be present at the meet.

The three-day event beginning from January 18 will have sessions such as "The Great Indian paradox" to be attended by Tharoor, 'Does Gandhi Still Matter?" to be discussed by Ramchandra Guha, 'Crossing the Line- Perspectives on the 'Me Too' crisis' to be deliberated on by Shobhaa De, Bhagat said.

The speaker list will also include former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, German poet Ulrike Almut Sandig, Australian restaurateur Michelle Garnaut and writer Syeda Hamid, Bhagat said.

In the run up to the literary festival there will be #letscelebrate campaign for a month across heritage places of the city.

"We have taken the literary festival from its earlier venue in St Pauls Cathedral to Park Street this year. We are celebrating the heritage feature of this road,' she said.

Remembering heritage is part of a literature festival, Bhagat said.