News Desk, News Nation 360 : The fifteenth Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF) got underway on the grounds of Allen Park, Park Street, Kolkata, with a stunning performance of Brahma Sangeet by Apeejay School students. Among those in attendance at the inauguration were festival director Anjum Katyal, CEO of Oxford Bookstore Swagat Sengupta, programming head Neeta Sreedharan, authors Baisakhi Saha, Ramanjit Kaur, Swapna Liddle, Alka Pande, Anita Agnihotri, Srijato, Maharghya Chakraborty, Sulagna Mukhopadhyay and Husna Tara Prakash. Speaking at the occassion, Anjum Katyal, Director, AKLF, stated that in the vibrant setting of Allen Park, Park Street, the 15th edition of AKLF got off to a fantastic start on that day. They began and ended the first day with music, with a children's choir performing a Brahma Sangeet and classical maestros Pt Kumar Bose and Bickram Ghosh discussing the life of a musician. Along the way, they heard Anuja
Chauhan, Simon Rowe, and Patrick Lyons discuss the perennially popular detective novel, learned about new translations of Kashmiri writer Hari Krishna Kaul, and heard Upamanyu Chatterjee discuss his brand-new novel. They also revisited Mughal Delhi with Swapna Liddle and Alka Pande. Another fascinating topic covered today was gender and feminist publishing, which was discussed by feminist publishing pioneer Urvashi Butalia on the one hand and Santa Khurai, Niladri Chatterjee, and Anindya Hajra on the other. They had a great turnout and enthusiastic participation for their children's festival, OJLF at Oxford Bookstore, and Poetry Café at Alliance Francaise. The esteemed partners for the three-day literary festival are the institutional partners Apeejay School and ilEAD, the hospitality partner Kenilworth Hotel in Kolkata, the refreshment partner Cha Bar and the radio partner 93.5 Red FM. Among the esteemed partners of the 15th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival were the Australian High Commission, Alliance Française du Bengale, and Tollygunge Club. Reputable publishing houses Speaking Tiger, Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Niyogi Books, Rupa Publications, Westland Books, Juggernaut, Simon and Schuster, Bloomsbury, Om Books, and Zubaan Books are among the other partners of the festival.
Pic - Courtesy
