Assam's first lit fest BLF starts tomorrow in Guwahati

Assam joins the growing list of states hosting literary jamborees with the three-day Brahmaputra Literary Festival (BLF), which will see the participation of more than 150 authors from India and abroad, beginning here tomorrow.
The festival, organised jointly by the National Book Trust (NBT) and the Assam government, will host 60 panel discussions, book releases, readings and culture events including screenings of films based on books, musical and dance performances.
The focus is on the "languages, literature, culture, society, politics, performance traditions, music, identity, media of the northeastern region of the country but also national and international elements packages in the three-day event".

"We have aimed to make the festival a landmark event of the country's literary calendar which will not only expose people to interact with famed litterateurs but also take literature of the northeast to the rest of the country and the world," NBT Director and a Sahitya Akademi winning Assamese author Dr Rita Choudhury, told PTI.
The festival will be inaugurated by Union Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.
"There are many popular literary festivals in the country but the northeast with such a rich literary tradition, both past and contemporary, is yet to have one and the BLF wants to change that," Choudhury said.

"We hope that the festival will become an annual feature of the country's literary calendar and not only encourage new ideas and their dissemination but also offer a platform for intellectual exchanges," she said.

The festival will bring together prominent personalities and celebrities, writers, thinkers, artists and other performers both from northeast India and across the country as well as internationally acknowledged litterateurs and other intellectuals from across disciplines, she added.
Renowned authors Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Narendra Kohli,
Sitakanta Mahapatra, Pratibha Ray, Arun Bhagat, Prem Janmeja, Rohit Khilnani, K R Meera, Devendra Mewadi, Avanijesh Awasti, Anjum Hassan along with several award winning litterateurs from northeast are among more than 150 authors from across the country who are likely to attend the festival.

Bollywood stars are expected to add to the glamour quotient with yesteryear actress Asha Parekh, popular star Shatrughan Sinha and director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra along with film journalists and writers Bharathi S Pradhan and Khalid Mohammad in the guest list.
Choudhury said the presence of intellectuals, litterateurs, editors, publishers and students in the festival will enrich the literary fabric of the state with many being enthused to participate in many more such festivals.
Besides, panel discussions on different issues related to literature and language, in-conversation sessions with writers, reading sessions, book signing sessions, film screenings as well as cultural programes showcasing indigenous cultures will also be held.

The panel discussions on the first day will focus on literature in more than 15 languages including Hindi, Assamese, Bengali and other languages of the northeast, women's writings, writing for children, perspectives of young voices, oral narratives, media and social media, crime, science fiction, thriller and writings on food.
The second day will witness discussions on writings on wildlife and environment, stories that never saw the light, graphic novels, new writings from languages, writing from the margins, memoirs and autobiographies, editing and changing narratives in Indian cinema.
The final day will have discussions on India from the foreign perspective with several foreign writers likely to participate in the session, contemporary fiction from northeast and contemporary trends in different languages while poetry readings will be held on all three days.

There are six venues of the BLF, located at the Sri Sankardeva Kalakshetra here, and named after some of the stalwarts of Indian literature and culture-- Tagore Hall, Pandita Ramabai Hall, Premchand Hall, Subramania Bharati Hall, Nalinibala Devi Hall and Bezbarua Hall.