Second edition of YES BANK Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) will be held from October 11 to 15. An independent & not-for-profit annual literary festival held in Uttarakhand, KLF is the first annual international “retreat” and “travelling” literature festival of the country. Last year’s first edition of the success which started at Dhanachuli and culminated at Nainital was seen as an unprecedented success.
This year’s festival is scheduled to be held at two different locations which include the Jim’s Jungle Retreat in Jim Corbett National Park and Te Aroha in Dhanachuli. The festival is part of a larger vision to develop Dhanachuli into a model cultural village.
The 2nd edition of the festival shall play host to many famous names from the world of literature, publishing, cinema and politics. T.M. Krishna, who was recently awarded Magsaysay Award, will deliver the keynote address. Authors like Amish Tripathi, Jean Echenoz, Ravi Subrimanian, Preeti Shenoy, Jerry Pinto, Tuhin Sinha, Shinie Anotny, Hindol Sengupta, Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil, Nirupama Dutt, and many others have confirmed their presence for the festival. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Justice A K Sikri, Pavan Varma, Shatrughan Sinha, Tarun Vijay, Shahid Siddiqui, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Nupur Sharma and other names from the world of politics and law have agreed kindly to be a part of the festival. Publishers like Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut, Anant Padmanabhan of HarperCollins, Aditi of Vani Prakashan will also attend. Biographers like Sathya Saran, Yatindra Mishra, Aseem Chabra, Jai Arjun Singh, Akshay Manwani, Yasser Usman, Gautam Chintamani have all consented to be present at the Festival. Many speakers like Afia Aslam, Ali Akbar Natiq, Ameena Saiyid, Asif Farrukhi, Asif Noorani, Dr. Sabyn Javeri, Mohsin Sayeed shall all come from Pakistan to attend the festival. Yossi Ginsberg, the Australian filmmaker will also attend the festival. Speakers like Ajay Rawat, Anup Sah, , Deepak Rawat, Mona Verma, C S Tiwari, Hridayesh Joshi, Sanjay Panday and others from the Uttarakhand heartland are going to be present at different sessions of the festival.
A flagship initiative of NHP Centre, KLF is part of a larger vision to develop Dhanachuli into a model cultural village. Founded by Sumant Batra, an eminent lawyer, social commentator, thought leader and creative innovator, KLF is conceptualised as an institution with an eco-system comprising of initiatives, projects and activities that are not limited or confined to the 5-day festival. The institutionalised approach to the festival is aimed at maximizing impact and optimize on resources that will help in identifying hidden talent, open avenues and opportunities for writers and increase their access through translations and other means to a larger audience. This also ensures we have some measurable and tangible outcomes that are in addition to the festival. Key projects that are part of KLF’s eco-system include: Literary Bhagidari, Women Unlimited Series (in partnership with the United Nations Women) and Fellows of Nature (in partnership with the French Embassy in India). NHP Centre is a Non Profit body geared towards building social consciousness and cultural progress in communities.
A biography on film star Rekha, film maker Nasir Hussain and other books will be launched at KLF.
The event aims to have sessions on different topics including Shifting Notions of the Nation State: Will national ideologies dominate global politics in 21st century? , Voice From the Well: How is Dalit Literature redefining perceptions and mind-sets, Scion of Ikshvaku, Jaane Kahan Gaye Woh Din: Will the era of epic lyricists and singers ever return?, Yours versus my nationalism – Being on the wrong side of the ‘patriotism’ divide, The Difficulty of Being Good, Star-Then & Now: The idea of a star in Hindi cinema over the last decades, Literature in Judicial Pronouncements and When will we get our next Karamchand?. A book launch of “The Sea Lies Ahead” by Intezar Husain will also take place at the event.
Speaking on the same, Mr. Sumant Batra, Founder Kumaon Literary Festival says, “The first (2015) edition of KLF was an unprecedented success positioning the festival amongst the most popular literature festivals of the country. We aspire to raise the bar further this year“. “KLF is the best thing that could happen to Uttarakhand. It has brought the state on global literary map”, said Daleep Akoi, chair of the KLF Organizing Committee.