Bengaluru fest to celebrate south Indian literature

Satish Chapparike, the festival’s director says, 'We thought it was important to recognise the contribution of Indian languages to world literature. South-Indian languages have a history of over 2,500 years.'

Bengaluru-based digital media house Book Brahma is organising a first-of-its-kind literature festival to celebrate literary works from the four prominent south Indian languages, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu.

Satish Chapparike, the festival’s director says, “Most literature festivals in India focus on English literature. We thought it was important to recognise the contribution of Indian languages to world literature. South-Indian languages have a history of over 2,500 years.” 

Over 300 speakers, including popular south Indian authors from Perumal Murugan and B Jeyamohan to K Satchidanandan, Paul Zacharia, Volga, Vivek Shanbhag, Jayant Kaikini and H S Shivaprakash will participate in panel discussions at the festival.

Other noted speakers include Akkai Padmashali, Abdul Rasheed, B Jayashree, Girish Kasaravalli, K Siva Reddy, K Nallathambi, Purushothama Bilimale, Rumi Harish, Vasudendhra, Pratibha Nandakumar and Sandhya Rani. 

The three-day event will see 80 panel discussions in the four south Indian languages and English. Over 100 publishers will be present at the event. “South Asian Literature in Translation (SALT), a department in the University of Chicago, will also be at the event. The department works on translating south Asian literature to English and they are now focussing on south Indian languages,” shares Chapparike. SALT will also have a round-table discussion with publishers from south India.

Apart from being a literary and publishers’ conclave, the festival will also feature cultural performances and art exhibitions.

At the art exhibition, 20 artists from across the five southern states will showcase their work. Participating artists include Kamal Ahmed Malekoppa, Kandan G, Ramakrishna Nayak, Urmila Venugopal and Manjunath Honnapura.   

Music, theatre and dance performances will see names like Karnatik vocalist R K Padmanabha, film and theatre personality Prakash Raj, and music composer and singer Bindumalini Narayanaswamy taking the stage. Theatre groups Nirdiganta and Natana will also perform. 

Visitors can shop from over 60 books stalls. Registrations are now open.

Book Brahma Literature Festival - Soul of South from August 9 to 11 at St John’s Auditorium, Koramangala. Registration is compulsory. Entry free. Register on bookbrahmalitfest.com