Khushwant Singh lit fest in Kasauli from October 6 to 8

CHANDIGARH: The sixth Khushwant Singh Literary Festival will be held at the Kasauli Club, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, from October 6 to 8.

This year’s theme is ‘70’, marking the seven decades of India’s independence after Partition from Pakistan.

Started in 2012, when writer Khushwant Singh, known for his bold writing and unorthodox views, was still alive, the annual lit fest is the only one named after an individual. Khushwant Singh, who died at 99 in 2014, did much of his writing in Kasauli. The lit fest, organised by his son Rahul Singh, supports many of Khushwant Singh’s passions such as the education of the girl child, the ecology of the hill station and the cause of the Indian soldier.

Former Union minister and writer Arun Shourie will deliver the inaugural address at 11am on Friday.

This year’s participants include actors Asha Parekh, Anupam Kher, Shatrughan Sinha, and Rahul Bose besides authors Devdutt Pattanaik, Farrukh Dhondy and Shobhaa De. Journalists Mark Tully, Rajdeep Sardesai, Bachi Karkaria, Sagarika Ghosh and Nirupama Dutt, Suhasini Haider, and Nidhi Razdan besides student activist Gurmehar Kaur will be taking part.

Others participating are Ajay Mago, Amrita Narayanan, Anand Sethi, Anantha Padmanabhan, Ashok Chopra, Ashutosh, Ashwin Sanghi, Bharathi S Pradhan and Deepa Sethi. HTC