HYDERABAD: With the curtains falling on the Jaipur Literature Festival, the countdown for Hyderabad Literary Festival begins. The three-day fest to be held from January 27 to 29 at Hyderabad Public School (HPS) will have something for everyone – popular authors, new voices in literary fiction, books, stage talks, theatre, dance, films, workshops.
Professor T Vijay Kumar, one of the festival director, says that though taking political stance has never been their agenda, they neither provoke nor silence any such voices. “The whole idea of the festival is to provide a neutral space, especially for the marginalised. For instance, we have a transgender band performing this time. Further, each day’s programme begins as well as end with plenary sessions on women-centric topics,” he says.
Names like Ashok Vajpeyi, Arun Shourie, Nandita Haksar, Harsh Mander and Josy Joseph are sure to rake up some uncomfortable discussions.
Legendary women and giants in their fields, Mahasweta Devi, MS Subbulakshmi and Chandralekha, will be feted during the three-day event. While writer Gowri Ramnarayan and Avinash Pasricha will pay tributes as a mark of the birth centenary of MS Subbulakshmi, Tishani Doshi will deliver a commemorative talk on dancer and choreographer Chandralekha, to mark 10 years since her passing away.
A session on the late chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalitha, by Vaasanthi, is also scheduled.
Although Prof Kumar admitted that this year’s festival has been consciously downsized from three parallel discussions to two, the festival, he asserts will only be better in terms of quality.
While the language in focus this year is Tamil, in a bid to foster better ties and further the ‘Look East Policy’, the guest nation for HLF ‘17 is the Philippines.
Over a dozen Filipino writers, authors, artists and filmmakers are participating. Prominent ones being – Vim Nadera, performance poet; Jun Cruz Reyes, award-winning writer, sculptor, painter and filmmaker; Steven Fernandez, known for transcreation of the Ramayana at the ASEAN Festival, to name a few.
For the poetry aficionados, there’s a treat. Noted poets like Arundhathi Subramaniam, Mani Rao and Tishani Doshi will be reading from their collections other than being part of panel discussions. Watch out for the plenary titled ‘Menstruating Muse’ which will be a feminist discussion as the title is suggestive.
Those looking for something lighter can have a fun time at the interactive sessions on theatre, dance, storytelling, visual arts, graffiti art, installations, flashmob, cow-dung toys and several other others such hands-on activities. The venue also has a food court where you can gorge on piping hot samosas or down Irani chai with Osmania biscuits as you engage in a Tete-e-Tete with noted writers, discuss our PM or poetry or simply soak in the carnival-like atmosphere.