Bangalore Literature Festival next month

Bengaluru: Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF), the flagship literary event on the cultural calendar here, will be held from December 5 to 6.

The fest would bring together nearly a hundred renowned persons from the world of literature, in various languages, both from India and abroad, author and BLF Co-Founder Vikram Sampath told reporters here today.

Issues such as intolerance and return of awards by writers and artists were expected to find a resonance at the meet.

The centenary of the ‘Nightingale of India’, Bharat Ratna late M S Subbulakshmi will also be discussed, he said.

A Carnatic classical concert of MSS’ trademark songs presented by her granddaughter Aishwarya Srinivasan, graced by Subbulakshmi’s daughter Radha Vishwanathan, will be an added attraction, Sampath said.

This fest will feature an eclectic range of authors and speakers, including Javed Akhtar, M J Akbar, Devdutt Pattanaik and Sambit Patra among others, he said.

The international participants would include Haroon Khalid and Anam Zakaria (Pakistan), Stephen Kopetzky (Germany), Joao Tordo (Portugal), Emily Holleman (USA), Anne-Marie Kenessey (Switzerland), Giles Hazelgrove (UK), Neal Hall (USA) and Per Bloch (Denmark), another BLF Co-Founder Shinie Antony said.

A main attraction in this year s festival is a unique installation on World War-1 by Elke Falat from Germany, she said.