BENGALURU: Literature festivals are all about bestselling works, celebrity author appearances, book signings and personal interactions. Bangalore Litfest 2016 has always faced criticism on how it doesn’t offer enough representation to Kannada literature.
This year, it had several sessions attended by eminent Kannada writers Thirumalesh, Vivek Shanbhag, S Diwakar, Prathibha Nandakumar, Vasudhendra and M S Sriram.
City Express spoke to five of these
authors post BLF on the issue. This is what they said.
Vivek Shanbhag
About the Author
Vivek has published five short story collections, three novels and two plays. His work ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ has been transalted to English.
‘Left With a Sense of Belonging’
The most enjoyable part of Bangalore Litfest was meeting so many people genuinely interested in literature. When you live in a city, being a part of its communities with similar interests gives you immense joy and a sense of belonging.
It felt great to share a platform with present-day authors, which mattered to me as a writer. Even non-Kannadiga audience sat through our sessions, listened with rapt attention and took part in discussions.
‘The Red Couch’ interactions could have fared much better if not for the noise.
M S Sriram
About the Author
Sriram is a visiting professor at IIM, Bangalore and has written a short story collection ‘Salman Khanana Difficulteesu’
‘Great Overall, Noisy at times’
This was my first time at Bangalore Litfest. I was glad to see the audience responding during Prathibha and Vivek’s session on Kannada poetry.
I was there to enjoy the experience. Apart from being a little noisy at times, I don’t think the event needs any changes. This is a great format.
S Diwakar
About the Author
Diwakar is a short fiction writer. He writes short fiction, poetry, essays, translations and literary criticism. He works for the UN Consulate General in Chennai.
‘Better Representation of Regional Writers’
I think there was better representation of Kannada writers this year. The organisers never specified whether we should be interacting in Kannada or English. Initially, we had planned to speak in Kannada. Just before our session, I and M S Sriram took an impromptu decision to interact in
English as well, to reach out to a larger
audience.
We got great a response to our session. We have not been able to communicate the enormity of our great works to people from other regions due to language constraint. Hope BLF organisers will do their best to facilitate this.
Prathibha Nandakumar
About the Author
Prathibha is a poet, journalist, short story writer, translator, columnist, playwright, script writer and film maker.
Critic Turns Admirer
I have been attending BLF since its inception and was one of the first few to air my displeasure regarding lesser representation of regional writers.
This year’s event gave much impetus to Kannada literature. I was the first recipient of their ‘Lifetime Achievement award’ for Kannada literature.
Having attended several national, international literary events, I want to say BLF this year has made great efforts to create a strong link between Kannada and English writers as well as readers.
Writers from the margins like Shilok Mukkati, Chandani, Revathi and Vasudhendra spoke about their experiences on being part of LGBT community and people responded to them - there was no language barrier there.
Most of us spoke in both Kannada and English to facilitate better conversation, which yielded good result.
Vasudhendra
About the Author
Vasudhendra is a bestselling Kannada author and publisher and has published short story collections, novels and essay collections. His recent novel Mohanaswamy has been translated to English.
‘Stuck with Smaller Venue, but Happy’
Our sessions used to have poor attendance and the sparse audience comprised only Kannadiga readers. Compared to earlier ones, this year’s BLF sessions by Kannada writers attracted audience in big numbers. I was glad the organisers included two sessions on literature from the margins.
We were given a smaller venue, that too parallel to a session which included celebrities. However, I am happy they decided to accommodate us.
Our own Sahitya Sammelana completely sidelined this topic, despite LGBT writers like me having received tremendous response from a majority of Kannadiga readers.