Treat for literatis

Hyderabad Literary Festival 2016 will have a display of interesting stage talks and promotion of causes on sensitive topics

The annual Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) celebrates creativity and literature in all its glory. This year over 150 authors will be present at HLF 2016, including Jonathan Gil Harris, Kiran Nagarkar, Naina Lal Kidwai, Nayantara Sahgal, Paro Anand, C Christine Fair, Jairam Ramesh, Rupak Kulkarni and Mohan Agashe among others. A host of programmes will be held. The literary sessions will be devoted to topics such as ‘A Different World Order’, LGBT and dance panel ‘Third Eye’.

Apart from parallel literary sessions, two stage talks have also been introduced. Workshops and exhibitions showcasing several artists of different forms of visual expression will be featured during the 3-day festival. A cultural programme will contain a story-telling and music show, “Art Street”, light installation, an exhibition on gender and identity. Kinnera music, which is a rapidly vanishing variant from Adilabad will also be showcased. Seeking inclusiveness of all, HLF 2016 will host a series of events on LGBTQ issues apart from panels by the differently-abled.

What one can look forward to:

• Panel discussions on gay identities with authors and activists Hoshang Merchant, R Raj Rao, Sridhar Rangayan, Moses Tulasi, Bharat Jayaram and others.
• Hand-printed artist books, woodcut by Naini Arora.
• ‘Blind with Camera’ by Partho Bhowmick.
• Exhibition by artist-architect Maitri Dore with stirring visuals and drawings on contemporary topics such as sexuality and the state.
• A performance by the transgender theatre group ‘Colour of Trans 2.0’, tracing the experiences of the actors themselves over the span of seven episodes.
• Screening of films featuring stories of LGBT persons victimised and subjugated by law, family and society.