BENGALURU: Every book serves as a portal to a distinct universe, offering readers a glimpse into diverse cultures, histories, and perspectives. Yet, some voices and worlds remain hidden like diamonds in the rough. India’s literary landscape has long been dominated by literature in a few languages, overshadowing the vast contributions of regional literature.
Recognising this gap, the Book Brahma Literature Festival (BBLF), a three-day event dedicated to celebrating the rich literary heritage of South Indian languages, is set to be held in Bengaluru from August 9 to 11 at St John’s Auditorium in Koramangala.
“There are a lot of literature festivals in India and abroad. Most of the literary focus in India is oriented towards English literature. For the last 3,000 years, Indian languages have contributed significantly to shaping world literature, but this contribution is not well recognised. So, we have decided to start a South Indian Literature Festival which is set to be one of the biggest Indian language literature festivals in the world,” says Satish Chapparike, the festival’s director.
The inaugural edition of the festival brings together over 300 authors from all South Indian languages – Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam – including those who write in English. Chapparike has received positive responses from delegates, authors, and publishers. “We’ve already got around 2,000 registrations,” he says.
The roster of speakers is confirmed, featuring renowned names like the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan, renowned Kannada author Vivek Shanbhag, eminent Tamil author and scholar Perumal Murugan, along with celebrated Kannada poets like Mamta Sagar and Jayant Kaikini.
Additionally, the festival will also feature a publisher’s conclave and roundtable discussions on facilitating rising authors. “The main theme is ‘to bind everyone together’. The idea is to unite all authors, languages, and publishers,” says Chapparike. Besides art and literature, the festival will also showcase cultural performances with artistes like National Award-winning actor Prakash Raj, Carnatic music pioneer RK Padmanabha, dancer Meghna Chandramouli, and more.
“This is a first-of-its-kind festival because our vision includes literature, culture, art, and more. We see literature more holistically as it encompasses the entire cultural spectrum. Our goal is to ensure everyone knows about the contributions of Indian literature,” he adds.