Mangaluru Lit Fest from January 19

More than 60 writers and speakers will participate in two forums in the festival which will have 29 sessions.

Mangaluru: The sixth edition of the Mangaluru Lit Fest will be held at TMA Pai International Convention Centre in Mangaluru from January 19 to 21.

The festival currently will have 29 sessions. More than 60 writers and speakers will participate in two forums, said Bharat Foundation Trustee Sunil Kulkarni.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said that Vanita Seva Samaj, Dharwad which has been working towards the empowerment of women has been selected for this year's 'The Idea of Bharath' award.

The Lit fest will be inaugurated by Kendra Sahithya Akademi award winner Lakshmisha Tolpadi. Radhe Jaggi, renowned artist; Dr Dhananjaya Singh, Member Secretary, Indian Institute of Social Science Research (ICSSR); Lt Gen Dr Vinod Khandare, Adviser to Defense Minister and N Vinaya Hegde, Chancellor, Nitte Deemed to be University. Representatives of Mythic Society will participate. Alva’s students will present Manipuri dance and renowned Bharatanatyam artiste Radhe Jaggi will perform after the inaugural programme, he said.

Trustee Shreeraj Gudi said there will be special sessions on the three masters of the Kannada literary world, Kuvempu, Bendre and Panje Mangesh Rao. “Chinnara Angala'' will be organized for children, by Vandana Rai of Karkala, with a view to showcase movie screening, develop children's literary taste and interest in stories among parents. A book stall, tulu script learning workshop, clay modelling, rural games, interaction with authors and prominent people (chat rooms) are the highlights of Lit Fest.

On January 20, a session on ‘why Bharat matters: narratives of New global order” by Let General Vinod Khandare and former Indian Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar. A session on creativity, womanhood and uniform by Capt Sajita Nair, Major Rama Sharma and Lt Col Ankita Sruvastava will be held at 11 am. Session on start ups: a path to new journey will be held at 12 noon.

Shreeraj Gudi said that a session on stories of Bengaluru through inscriptions will be held on January 20 at 5.15 pm. On January 21, a session on cultural marxism by Dr Anshu Joshi will be held at 10 am. While voices of Bharat: emergence of new subaltern by Rimjhim Gour, Prema Thiruvapati and Arshia Malik will be held at 3.15 pm.

To focus on the emerging technology, a session on AI and literature by Suresh Narasimhan and Beluru Sudarshan will be held at 10.15 am.

Sessions on Hindus in Bangladesh, narrating the idea of Bharat: the Bollywood way, Indo-Pacific challenges and opportunities, understanding global market economy, Indian and western literary thoughts and others will be held during the three day long fest, he said.

A book titled Idea of Bharat: Interactions of identity and beyond edited by Dr Nandan Prabhu of TAPMI will be released at the inaugural session. The book has writings of 12 writers.