Kolkata Literature Festival 2017: the schedule

The Kolkata International book fair has always been the reason for nostalgia for every Bengali (read. Resident of Kolkata) ever. Starting from January 25^th and running till February 5^th, the Kolkata International Book Fair also hosts a 3 day long festival known as the Kolkata Literature festival. In a span of a month, Kolkata hosts 3 literature festivals and the Kolkata Literature festival is the only one that is hosted within the premises of the Kolkata International Book Fair at the Milan Mela Grounds, near Science City.

The focal theme country for the Kolkata International Book Fair 2017 is Costa Rica and the Kolkata Literature Festival 2017 would see authors from 10 countries such as Wales, Scotland, Australia, Egypt, USA, India, Bangladesh, Spain, France and of course Costa Rica holding around 25 sessions over the 3 days it is held. Each day would end on musical notes with performances by Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty on the 1^st day, Dohar on the 2^nd Day and Dona Ganguly on the final day.

Bestselling Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Datta and Sudeep Nagarkar would be speaking on writing, being a writer and the trends in writing. On the other hand, the festival would also host sessions by eminent poets like Neel Hall and Nishi Chawla from the US. Speaking of foreign authors, in a session about identifying the readers, authors such as Khaled Al Khamissi, Vivek Shanbhag, Lin Anderson, Natalie Holborrow, Denes Gazsi would be speaking on an author’s approach towards writing a novel.

This year, a special initiative has been taken titled “The valley The City and The Village” where authors from Wales would be visiting Kolkata and authors from Kolkata would be visiting Wales and they would be writing down their experiences in the form of short stories which would later find its place in a book to be published in India and the UK. Natalie Ann Holborrow, Sion Tomos Owen and Sophie Mcknead, Gary Raymond, Esha Chatterjee and Kaberi Roychowdhury would be seen discussing on the same.

On the current hot topic of discussion, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, transgender activist (Bigg Boss and Sach ka Saamna fame), Manabi Bandopadhyay, Sandip Roy and Penky Kenworthy would be having a session titled, “What do I do with my sexuality?”

The 3 day long festival would be inaugurated by French ambassador and Costa Rica representative, Sankha Ghosh followed by a musical performance by the Calcutta School of Music. Promising a great time to the art and literature enthusiasts, the Kolkata Literature Festival 2017 packs off with a super schedule from 2^nd February to 4^th February. So, do not miss the festival.

A wonderful part of this whole festival is that you, being a blogger, reader or a writer who loves talking about books can contribute posts for the official website of the Kolkata International Book Fair 2017. You can also update your social media profiles with #KLF17 and post about the Kolkata Literature Festival 2017 as well as connect with the live updates following the hashtag.

 You can see the whole schedule HERE.