Qissebaazi, Poetification™ To Bring Stories, Poems To Life

The sixth edition of the Chandigarh Literature Festival to be organized by the Chandigarh based Adab Foundation in association with the Panjab University Department of English and Cultural Studies on the university campus from November 10 to 12 promises to be much more lively and entertaining than in the previous years. Announcing the dates and other details, foundation chairman Mitul Dikshit and festival director Annie Zaidi, a noted writer and poetess, told media persons on Wednesday: “This year’s fest will introduce a first for the region ‘Qissebaazi’ and ‘Poetification’ – performances based on literature to bring the stories and poems alive. The venues – Balwant Gargi Open Air Theatre and the auditoriums of the Department of English and Department of Evening Studies – will be open to the public.

This year’s festival will feature 10 books on a wide range of subjects, including a graphic novel, war and conflict, professions which are dying a slow death and a gay man’s hardships and the discrimination he has to face in society. The books will be discussed threadbare after respective writers have had an open conversation with a book critic. Unfortunately, there is not a single entry from Chandigarh among the ten books. Explaining this, Mitul and Annie said the format of the festival is such that they do not invite the authors or poets directly. They invite noted critics and literary experts from different parts of the country who are free to nominate one writer each of their choice.

Photo By: Life in Chandigarh

However, there will be a few young people from the tricity area participating in a unique session on poetry ‘New Words: Young Poets Present Their Work In English, Hindi and Punjabi’, a multi-lingual event and a platform for young poets, many of whom may not have published their works yet. The session will be curated by young artists Akhil Katyal and Amy Singh.

This year’s festival will also have panel discussions, one of them being on a very topical issue ‘Writing Scared: Freedom of Expression & Punjabi Literature’.  Noted experts will also participate in a panel discussion on ‘Contemporary Art of North India’.

Some celebrated films are also being shown during the three-day festival.
The screening of ‘Anaarkali of Aarah’ will be followed by a discussion between Director Avinash Das and critic Mihir Pandya.

Day 2 & 3 will see engaging sessions between some of the best authors of the country and noted critics and literary experts. Kiran Nagarkar, author of novel ‘Jasoda’, will be seen in conversation with critic Sreenivasan Jain. Another session to look out for will be Hindi poet and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Mangalesh Dabral in conversation with critic Asad Zaidi on his book ‘Naye Yug Mein Shatru’.

Acclaimed author Nayantara Sehgal will be seen in conversation with critic Kiran Nagarkar on her book ‘When the Moon Shines by Day’.  Author Hansda Sowendra Shekhar will be in conversation with critic Vivek Menzes, a widely published writer and photographer from Goa, about his book ‘The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey’, which has won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Purashkar. Hansda, incidentally, was in news when the Jharkhand government banned his book ‘The Adivasi Will Not Dance’ claiming it had shown Santhal women “in a bad light.”

For attending, Adab Foundation can be contacted on www.clf.co.in