Bangalore Literature Festival 2023: Where stories come alive

“Lit fests are mythical beasts come alive — hundred-headed, multilingual, come-hither, magic-carpeting into all directions,” says Shinie Antony, festival director of the Bangalore Literature Festival. The 12th edition of the festival, which will be held in the city between December 2-3, promises to be as interesting as the editions before, offering an eclectic, diverse set of sessions that, as the BLF website puts it, focuses on “rekindling the romance with literature and fostering fine reading and writing, especially amongst the young population of the city.” Shinie lists some of the key highlights of the festival: a keynote address by Dr Abraham Verghese, a conversation with Devdutt Pattanaik on Jainism, an interaction with Sudha Murty, who will actually bring Gopi, the dog featured in her children’s book, to meet young readers, a stand-up session by Anuvab Pal on lit fests, a conversation between Shashi Tharoor and his sister Smita Tharoor on their love for language and a session with ‘adman-madman’ Prahlad Kakar, among many others. Literature festivals, she believes, help you connect really well with readers “not for the ‘public eye facing’ thing but genuine connections,” she says. It is really empowering to meet like-minded people.” To know more about the festival or register for it, log into https://bangaloreliteraturefestival.org/ A festival for little ones Vikram Sridhar, the curator of the Children’s Literature Festival, which runs in parallel with the BLF at the same venue, calls the entire event “a family outing on literature.” Boasting close to 85 speakers, ranging from authors to storytellers to puppeteers to singers to illustrators, “it is as wide as literature goes for children,” he says, adding that there are sessions for children across three age groups: 4-plus, 8-plus and 12-plus.