Journalism of Courage
Tucked right in the heart of Bengaluru amidst lush green cover and glittering poolside, the 11th edition of Bangalore Literature Festival 2022, conducted at Hotel Lalit Ashok, was marked with thought-provoking one liners, exchange of fresh ideas, and participative discussions related to art, culture history and literature. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
In a tribute to Karnataka’s literary icons like late Dr Puneeth Rajkumar and Shankar Nag, the two-day festival was spread across different programme forums namely, Gandhadagudi, Raajakumara, Yuvaratna and Malgudi. The other forums included The Red Couch and Seonee. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
Day 1 of the festival featured diversified set of speakers like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pico Iyer, Ramachandra Guha, TJS George, Leeza Mangaldas who touched up on topics like economy, sex, history, travel and literature. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
Noted journalist P Sainath also spoke about ‘Who is a Freedom Fighter ‘- an engrossing session that touched upon how our perception of who a freedom fighter is dependent on various criteria and how innumerable people's efforts have been excluded because of these criteria. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
On Day 2, speakers like J Sai Deepak, Sunil Chetri, Shobha De, William Dalrymple, Sudha Murthy, Ranjini Rao, Kabir Bedi, among other writers and authors discussed topics like nature, conservation, children’s writing, sports, films, history and much more. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
Writers like Manu Joseph, Vikram Chandra, KR Meera, Tabish Khair had a deeply moving discussion, explaining the ‘Method Behind the Madness’. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
The festival also hosted The Amar Chitra Katha Quiz and had an evening of Sufi singing and the poetry of Kabir and Bulleh Shah, with the inimitable Mukhtiyar Ali and his group. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
The winners of the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize were also felicitated. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
A few firsts at this year's literature festival were: Bringing to India leading names from the Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators (APWT), the region’s longest running and largest literary network; Launching ScreenLit, a platform for budding screenplay writers to pitch their stories to eminent filmmakers; LitMart returns, the platform where first-time writers presented their story pitch to a jury of publishers, editors and literary agents; the commemoration of the life of Puneet Rajkumar through venue names Gandhadagudi, Raajakumara and Yuvaratna; A festival bookshop that catered to all ages, tastes and lovers of any genre. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
The two-day literature festival saw a huge turnout of men, women and children. (Express photo by Jithendra M)
