Writers, thinkers and the spirit of debate in Mumbai
Slated to be held from 17 November, Mumbai’s biggest international literature festival, Tata Literature Live!, is going to host more than 130 writers hailing from 30 countries this year, writes Srija Naskar.
this year?’ is a question I am asked everywhere I go. What can I say? For us, all the writers coming here are stars in their own right. The best known writer in Argentina or Germany or Brazil may not be a household name in India, but nevertheless, they will have a huge international reputation. Simon Armitage, the formidable British poet who holds the prestigious chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, will also be here. But is he a household name? So I take the safe route and men- tion names everyone in India have heard of: Amitav Ghosh and Gulzar, Shekhar Gupta and Vir Sanghvi, Mahroof Raza and P. Chidambaram. All our participants will ensure that the festival lives up to its lively image as a plat- form where literature is truly celebrated through freedom of speech and expression, and where there is never a dull moment. We are thrilled to bring to the audiences of Mumbai and the country, the first glimpse of this annual literature fiesta. More authors will be announced at the end of this month with the full programme revealed in November.”
Workshops this year, curated for both adults and children, will feature international writers and poets undertaking sessions on fiction, theatre and poetry. For adults, these include “Writing Biographies” by John Zubrzycki, “Writing Horror Fiction” by Darryl Jones, “Poetry from Brazil” by Angelica Freitas, “Writing Drama for Radio” by Sue Roberts, “Lens to Lens”, a session on photojournalism by Sandor Jaszberenyi, and “Machine Plays”, the art of performing plays without rehearsals by Nassim Soleimanpour, among others. For children, the sessions feature “Worlds within Words”, a multi-lingual poetry workshop by Adrian Grima, Yolanda Castano and Sampurna Chattarji; “How to Draw Everything”, a workshop on illustration of stories by Gillian Johnson and “Story’xpress”, a storytelling session for lesser privileged children.
Plays, performance poetry, and storytelling with music would also be an integral part of the festival. There will be a theatrical experiment “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” by the Iranian playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, wherein actors and the audience discover the script together. The Hindi edition of this play will also premiere at the festival.
Since its inception, Tata Literature Live! has instituted awards to honour achievements by Indian writers, both emerging and accomplished. Seven awards will be presented to celebrate and recognise outstanding works — the Tata Literature Live! First Book Awards, and the Tata Literature Live! Book of the Year Awards in the Fiction and Non-Fiction categories; the Tata Literature Live! Business Book Award, Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureate Award and Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award.
Taking this initiative forward, the festival this year has introduced three new awards — the Big Little Book Awards for author and illustrator in the Literature-forchildren category, and the Sultan Padamsee Award for Playwriting.
“‘Who are the stars of the festival this year?’ is a question I am asked everywhere I go. What can I say? For us, all the writers coming here are stars in their own right. The best known writer in Argentina or Germany or Brazil may not be a household name in India, but nevertheless, they will have a huge international reputation.”