With the country reeling under the effects of a lockdown in order to contain the spread of COVID-19, online festivals are the new normal for public engagement. A case in point: the upcoming Manjul Online Literary Festival.
“It is our endeavour to bring the experience of a literary festival to your home. We have curated a set of sessions that are highly relevant to the times. For example, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni will talk about how Indian mythology can help us cope with the current times, while Allan and Barbara Pease will talk about how to move forward and stay positive,” says Samantak Bhadra, Head – Marketing, Sales and Promotions, Amaryllis – An imprint of Manjul Publishing House, in a conversation with The Morning Standard.
This two-day literary festival will be live on Instagram on the @manjulpublishinghouse handle. The sessions will start at 4:10pm on April 11 and at 12:30pm on April 12.The festival also endeavours to help viewers deal with the current times through sessions on loneliness, mental health of children, writing stories, moving forward and sleeping well, among others.
Delhi-based author Samrat Choudhury will also conduct a session. He is looking forward to specially talking about the reports of attacks and discrimination of people from the Northeast India with another author, Suhas Chakma. “Before the coronavirus outbreak, the country was wracked by protests against the CAA and the NRC. Both had a connection with discrimination and the Northeast.” Writers such as Devdutt Pattanaik, Rajiv Malhotra, Dr Chris Winter and Deepak Bajaj will also speak to the viewers. A bonus: If the authors identify yours as the best comment or question posed to them during the session, you can win free copies of their books.