Edition 3 of Samanvay Indian languages festival

The third edition of IHC Indian languages festival, Samanvay, will kickstart here with "brave new voices" and a focus on connections between the country's languages and dialects.
The four-day festival beginning October 24, featuring 20 languages and dialects features a line-up that includes Gulzar, Jerry Pinto, Ketan Mehta, Mahesh Bhatt, Mukul Kesavan, Piyush Mishra, Sanjay Kak, Shashi Deshpande, Shuddhbrata Sengupta and Varun Grover among others.
For 2013 the festival's main theme is "Jodti Zubanein, Judti Zubanein: Language Connections" and would have conversations around oral literature, media, and translations, along with poetry performances, folk art, stand-up comedy, theatre and cultural evenings.

According to Satyanand Nirupam, Creative Director, Samanvay, "This year's theme goes beyond literary and cultural connections across languages and encompasses the connections between divergent media of expression, like literature, cinema, music, between various ideologies and of course between languages and dialects.
"Samanvay also reaches out for a connection valuable for the shared history of the subcontinent. Samanvay is an honest attempt that focuses exclusively on Indian languages instead of only showcasing them," Nirupam said.
Various publishers like the National Book Trust, Delhi Press, Pratilipi Books, Hind Pocket Books, Full Circle, Rajkamal Prakashan, Vani Prakashan and others have lined up special sale offers for the Festival.

Beyond the language specific sessions, sessions on civil society, activism, dalit and women writing, alternative voices from literature, cinema, radio, publishing, gender violence, aspirations, dreams and voices of the marginalised have been featured.

According to Raj Liberhan, Festival Director, "For us Samanvay is not an event but a cause. All of us in this country find ways of translating our thoughts into words. Samanvay is a multilingual platform to debate, share and ideate on issues affecting us."
Conceived as an annual celebration of writing in Indian languages, the festival aims at generating dialogue across them and according to organisers has emerged as the only literature festival dedicated exclusively to Indian languages.

The inaugural edition (2011) of the festival tried to explore the politics of bringing various literatures under the master signifier, 'Indian'.
In 2012, the festival moved on to discover the heritage of Indian languages through the strain of "Boli, Baani, Bhasha" (dialect, speech and language).