Gulzar, Badri Narayan among 1,100 authors to take part in Sahitya Akademi's 'Festival of Letters'

Sahitya Akademi, the National Academy of Letters, will celebrate its 70 years at the 39th edition of its annual literary gala, 'Sahityotsav: Festival of Letters', here with the participation of more than thousand authors in over 170 languages from across the country, the organisation announced on Wednesday.

Eminent writers and poets participating in the festival, include the likes of veteran lyricist Gulzar, who will deliver the Samvatsar lecture, writers Badri Narayan, Arundhathi Subramaniam, SL Bhyrappa, Chitra Mudgal, Arjun Deo Charan, Oscar Pujol, Paro Anand, Manisha Kulshreshtha, Humra Quraishi, Yatindra Mishra, and Ranjit Hoskote.

One of the key highlights of the festival, the national seminar will be conducted on March 14 on the topic 'Post-Independence Indian Literature'. While the keynote address will be delivered by Hindi poet and critic Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, English and Hindi scholar Harish Trivedi will deliver the inaugural address. Talking about this year's Sahityotsav, secretary K Sreenivasarao said this will also be the first time that differently-abled writers will take part in the ''world's most inclusive literature festival''.

''This year is special in many aspects. Differently-abled writers will participate for the first time in this festival. It will be the world's largest literature festival and more than 1,100 writers will participate in more than 190 sessions,'' he said at a press conference.

The six-day festival will also focus on literature and literary traditions from tribal regions and Northeast India. Writers, poets and activists from the LGBTQ community, including Kalki Subramaniam, Hoshang Merchant, Devika Devendra S Manglamukhi, and Raveena Bariha, will also take part in the upcoming festival.

On March 12, the 24 winners of the Sahitya Akademi Award will be felicitated at a ceremony that will be attended by noted Odia writer and Jnanpith awardee Pratibha Ray and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chhattisgarh Governor and writer Biswabhusan Harichandan, and West Bengal Governor and writer CV Ananda Bose. Other writers and poets who will take part in the literature festival include Jeet Thayil, Mamta Kalia, Nachhatar, Namita Gokhale, Kula Saikia, Abid Surti, K Satchidanadan, Mridula Garg, K Enok, YD Thongchi, Damodar Mauzo, Geet Chaturvedi, and Maitreyi Pushpa.

Apart from the regular programmes like multi-lingual poetry reading and short story reading, yuva sahiti, panel discussions on Bhakti literature, children's literature, importance of mother tongues, tribal poets' and writers' meet, novels of future, theatre as cultural expression will also be organised during the course of the festival. There will also be panel discussions and symposia on various topics, including cultural heritage of India, science fiction in Indian languages, ethics and literature, biographies, literatures and social movements, and Indian literature abroad. It will also host cultural programmes, including Bharatanatyam by Rajashree Warrier, tribute to Rabindranath Tagore by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shinjini Kulkarni and Sundeep Bhutoria, Santvani singing by Rajasthani folk singer Mahesha Ram, and a play ''Samrat Ashok'', written by Dayaprakash Sinha and directed by Chittaranjan Tripathy.

The festival will come to a close on March 16 with a symposium on the life and works of Gopi Chand Narang, an array of children's competition, among other programmes.