Apeejay Kolkata Literary Fest invites stalwarts from art world

The 'Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2018' will invite film maker Mira Nair whose Cannes Film Festival-feted 'Salaam Bombay' will complete 30 years of making.
Salaam Bombay, made in 1988, was the winner of the Camera dOr at the Cannes film festival and also nominated for Oscar. The film put the spotlight on the street children of Mumbai years before Danny Boyles Oscar-winning 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
The 9th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, to be held from January 11 to 14, will have nstalwarts like Mira Nair and Vishal Bhardwaj. "While we will be commemorating the 30th year of the making of Salaam Bombay, Bhardwaj, an acclaimed director, will be launching his book of poems," Co-Director of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival Anjum Katyal told PTI yesterday.

"We will also be launching actor Soha Ali Khan as a writer whose book 'The Perils of Being Moderately Famous' has created a buzz. We are inviting people whose works have evoked genuine interest among people," she said.
The festival will also feature eminent writers Basharat Peer, Nayantara Sahgal, Mark Tully, Namita Gokhale, Manu Joseph, Lord Meghnad Desai, Shobhaa De and Ashis Nandy.
Katyal said the festival, which the authorities wanted to bring out from closed door halls to open air, will be hosted at the lawns of St Paul's Cathedral Kolkata to make it more inclusive for people from all sections.

"Our festival has come a long way where there will be literary discussion, workshops, live music performance and screening of a package of films on January 14," she said.

The film screening will also include a documentary on Begum Akhtar, she said.
AKLF has offered residencies to participating poets and authors representing two major literary initiatives - the Edinburgh International Book Festival, UK and Bonjour India - which is touring 33 cities of India including Kolkata.
The Ambassador of France Alexandre Ziegler in November announced the commencement of Bonjour India 2017 - 2018, a four-month cultural voyage across India.
"We have tied up with Bonjour India and Edinburgh International Book Festival," Katiyal said.

She said there will be over 100 writers, from India and abroad in the literary festival.
The foreign writers included Norman Ohler from German, Anna Funder and Robert Dessaix from Australia, James Nol, Makenzy Orcel, Laure Leroy from France, Abir Mukherjee and Nalini Paul from UK and Mousumi Banerjee from the US.