Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2021 Begins Today

Here's an opportunity for all book lovers and literature enthusiasts to appreciate books, art, movies, and more with the finest creative minds in the country, and abroad.

Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2021 is back with a three-day event starting from today, January 22.

The events are free to attend, and open to all. However, this year the festival will take place in a hybrid/virtual format. According to the organisers, while some of the talks will be held at the newly renovated Heritage Currency Building under strict COVID-19 safety protocols, other events will be conducted in live streaming format.

From engaging with a world of ideas and experiences to meeting your favourite authors to discovering new talented writers, the 12th edition of the literature festival in Kolkata is prepared to make every book lover&rsquos dream come true.

Festival Director Maina Bhagat has carefully curated the three-day schedule to address the hybrid/virtual format challenges for delegates who will participate in the festival from across three time zones.

The festival will welcome renowned authors, columnists, politicians, sports icons, and film personalities like Paro Anand, Andaleeb Wajid, Kunal Basu, Namita Gokhale, Shashi Tharoor, Manoj Bajpai, and Shobhaa De.

Read Jaipur Lit Fest is Back and Here's What's in Store

Some of the events that the festival will conduct include 'Out of Print What's Plaguing Publishing' by Alexandra Pringle and Kanishka Gupta, 'New Normal, New India' by Harsh Mander and Aakar Patel, and 'A Centenary Tribute to Federico Fellini' by Federico Grandesso.

 &ldquo2020 is behind us, and has provided us with a time for reflection with a clear 20/20 vision.  Oxford Bookstore and the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival have utilised the digital space proactively through the past year, as a realm for carrying out projects and conversations, as well conceiving new ideas. We believe that an important uniting thread at this time is the cause of books. The space occupied by Literature and Books, whether on the ground or in the virtual world, will flourish. It is in this spirit that we present the 12th edition of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival to our informed Kolkata audiences,&rdquo said Priti Paul, Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group.

&ldquoThe 12th Edition of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival sets its sights on our fast evolving world, and the changes that lie in store in the years ahead. Curated meticulously to meet the challenges of the Hybrid/Virtual format, with delegate participation from across three time zones, this acceleration to digital connectivity, has not stopped us from moving forward with this key initiative. The Festival, packed with thought provoking, entertaining and informative sessions, is a celebration of the written word, in the time of Covid,&rdquo said Maina Bhagat, Director Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival and Apeejay Oxford Bookstores.

To give a first 'taster' of AKLF2021, festival directors Maina Bhagat and Swagat Sengupta announced the list of speakers. Some of them were Paro Anand, Alexandra Pringle, Andaleeb Wajid, Kunal Basu, Namita Gokhale, Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De, Kishwar Desai, Viswanathan Anand , Boria Majumder, Anand Neelakantan, Kevin Missal, Ashok Banker, Parmesh Shahani, Rujuta Diwekar, Nisha Narayanan, Samit Basu, Sopan Deb, Anjum Katyal, Sonu Sood, Malashri Lal, Aakar Patel, Harsh Mander, Karuna E.Parikh , Virginie Corteval, J&eacuter&ocircme Petit, Thibaut d&rsquoHubert, Selvam Thorez , Deepa Mehta, Juhi Chaturvedi, Manoj Bajpai , Aseem Chhabra, Katherine Eban, Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Lisa Ray , Abhijit Bhaduri , Sandip Roy, and Avik Chanda.