Feb 16, 2018, New Delhi: The sixth edition of the 3-day Delhi Literature Festival is all set to kick off from February 23 rd at Dilli Haat, Opposite INA market in New Delhi. Founder Director of Delhi Literature Festival, Ms. Bharati Bhargava announced the programme and objectives at a press conference held at Oxford Bookstore, Connaught Place, New Delhi on Feb 16, 2018.
Speaking about the festival Founder Director of Delhi Literature Festival, Ms. Bharati Bhargava said, “We are delighted to come up with the sixth edition of Delhi Literature Festival (Feb 23 to 25, 2018) with much acclaimed authors and speakers. The 3 day festival will hold many discussions and book readings as great attractions. Our objective is to promote young and inspiring authors, inculcate reading habits among the youth, and promote Indian literature across the globe.”
She further added, “With a host of speakers, including Sanil Sachar, Ashwin Sanghi, Durjoy Dutta, Minu Bakshi, Milee Ashwarya, Simran Khara, Chiki Sarkar, Jaya Jaitly, Rakshanda Jalil, Mayank Austeen Sufi, Nilotpal Mrinal, R V Smith, Ankit Lal, Prashant Jha, Anant Padmanabhan, Rajat Sethi, Riva Ganguli Das, Parismita Singh and many more, Delhi literature festival promises to be an extravaganza for bibliophiles and intellectuals.”
The festival will open with a musical session where Minu Bakshi, singer and author, will share her views. After Minu Bakshi the festival will be followed by a discussion with author Sanil Sachar whose book ‘Rebound’ has created a sensation. There are many other thought-provoking sessions for audience. After the fiasco that led to his boycotting the Jaipur Literature Festival in the wake of the controversy centering on the film Padmaavat, poet lyricist Prasoon Joshi Chairperson CBFC is expected to attend the festival too.
The first day (Feb 23, 2018), will have speakers like Anant Padmanabhan, Milee Ashwarya & Simran Khara, who will participate in a discussion on ‘The growth of crowd-sourced writing’ in the new-age publishing industry. Topical issues and insights will be integral to the discussions with a Q&A session towards the end. The Delhi Government, which has always supported the festival, will have its strong presence at the festival this year too. With their focus on its primary agenda of education, Delhi government’s Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia will speak on ‘Education for Empowerment’ as part of the inaugural session.
On the second day of the festival (Feb 24, 2018), a panel discussion on ‘Nai Wali Hindi’ will keep the lovers of Hindi Literature absorbed as speakers like Nilotpal Mrinal & Ashish Chaudhary (Westland) will share their views on the present day status of Hindi Literature in India. Another discussion on the Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb will be the highlight of the day where Delhi’s historiographer R V Smith, blogger-photojournalist Mayank Austen Sufi and historian Rakshanda Jalil will look at the age-old amalgamation of the Hindu and Muslim practices that have always been an integral part of India.
Jaya Jaitly will discuss about her book ‘Life Among: The Scorpions: Memoirs of a woman in Indian Politics’. In her book, as an Indian politician, she looks back at her journey and recounts how the going got tougher with her every success, perhaps because she was a woman. The book also marks thirty years of Jaya Jaitly’s political journey. In another session Publisher Chiki Sarkar will talk about her initiative, ‘Getting Published,’ and novelist Parismita Singh will talk about her book “Peace Has Come on” the second day of festival.
The last day of the festival (Feb 25, 2018) will start with a short play- Laghu Natak, performed by young artistes of Delhi and will move on to a discussion on the book ‘Trials of Truth’ by Pinky Anand & Gauri Goburdhun. There will be a discussion on social media’s role in democracy by Ankit Lal (Hachette), Prashant Jha (Juggernaut) and Rajat Sethi (Penguin Random House). Day 3 will also have a session on Raj Kapoor by his daughter Rita Nanda as also on ‘The Boy with a broken heart’ by Durjoy Dutta.
Besides a session with Additional Solicitor General of India at the Supreme Court of India Pinky Anand, the festival will also have a concluding session where Editor in Chief Zee News Sudhir Chaudhary.
Oxford Bookstore, one of the best known Indian book store chains, will be displaying a wide range of books during the 3-day festival.
