Kolkata Literary Festival inaugurated

Instead of the usual lighting of a lamp, the festival was inaugurated at the Victoria Memorial by West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan who unveiled a 'patachitra' (scroll painting) made by Gurupada Chitrakar, an artist from West Midnapore district.

Narayanan said that literary festivals regrettably ignored the work of Indian authors writing in regional languages.

"It looks odd. We have two dozen Indian languages some of which are even a thousand years old. But it seems that this priceless heritage has been missed out by literature festivals," he said.

He suggested that the linguistic diversity and the multicultural secularism of India should be reflected in such events.

Festival director Maina Bhagat said, "It is a festival where we try to connect the written word with the world of performing arts."

Eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who was present, summed up the 100 year history of Indian cinema.

The five-day AKLF is being held at various venues including historical places like Victoria Memorial, St John's Church and the Lascar Monument.

It would commemorate the birth centenary of legendary Pakistani writer Sadat Hasan Manto with a special performance by the National Academy of Performing Arts, Karachi.

A special tribute would be paid to late Bengali litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay, who passed away in October.

The events would be participated by authors like Ramchandra Guha, Leila Seth, Shobha De and Yasmeen Premji, who has launched her debut novel 'Days of Gold and Sepia'.

International representation would include acclaimed Scottish writer and historian William Dalrymple, British author Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, French author Kenize Mourad, German authors Katy Derbyshire, Dorothy Elminger and Inka Parei.

Hindi film posters collected over the last few decades by Priya Paul, chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, were being exhibited at the Park Hotel as part of the festival.