Asia Reborn
Alex Travelli who was moderating the discussion with Prasenjit Basu asked what made him bring Asia together, where people see every country as different. Prasenjit said he lived in East Asia for 25 years and then spent 5 years in …
BLF Live
BLF 2018 Reports Day 2
Satyajit Ray Sci-Fi
It is only fair that someone having as iconic a stature as Satyajit Ray also must be having a life full of equally iconic incidents. In 1962 Ray was all set to be the first ever Asian to venture out …
हिंदी is Cool – Presented by Kalam
If there was an award for the most entertaining session this would be it. Nikhil and Divya Prakash are a box of fun and frolic. In their attempt to revive Hindi literature they connect to the Hindi speaking individual’s sensibilities. …
An Equal World: Beyond 377
Decriminalization of homosexuality by the Supreme Court of the country is just the beginning of the battle. The panel discussion on Section 377 on the second day of the literature festival was one of the most interactive sessions of all. …
Modern Family: Creative Dysfunction
The young Benny Daniel was an engineer in the middle-east. Far away from home and having nothing much to do after work, he took to reading. The next 8 years he kept reading. He also wrote a lot of letters …
Catch a Tiger by the Tale
Raghava KK is a contemporary artist living and working in New York and India. His wife Nethra is a musician. Krithi Karanth is a Conservation Biologist based in Bangalore, India. They were addressing the audience in the Bangalore Literature festival …
Chit-Chat on Bofors and Rafale
Ten years. That is how long Chitra Subramaniam worked on the Bofors scandal, from Geneva in Switzerland. She was 29 and pregnant when she began her investigation. She continued to follow the paper trail and money trail to their end, …
Trumpian Times
“I grew up in secular America. The distribution of wealth was equal, then. It was a period of enormous wealth and stability. Although the Vietnam war was undoing that stability, it did not particularly affect the middle-class society in America. …
Nautanki Dairies
Dominic Franks who graduated from the Bangalore Medical College had always carried an ambition to be a writer and he achieved his dreams by cycling his way up. This session was about Dominic’s ‘doodh waala’ cycle called Nautanki which he …
Imran Khan: In the Hot Seat
The recent political change in Pakistan has been a hot topic of discussion at the Bangalore Literature Festival. Farzana Shaik was in conversation with Max Rodenbeck and the discussion was more about the current economic crisis of Pakistan, Imran,’s promise …
Polio: The Odyssey of Eradication
Thomas Abraham is an Associate Professor and journalist in Journalism and Media Studies Centre University of Hong Kong. Dan Morrison started the conversations by addressing him a question, ” Why did you write about Polio?”
Thomas said he was not …
Love and Longing in Hindustan
The session ‘Love and Longing in Hindustan’ was introduced as a panel on writing erotica which was immediately denied by one of the panellists, Madhavi Menon who corrected that it was actually about love and longing as the title suggests. …
Lives of Girls and Women
The session ‘Lives of Girls & Women’ witnessed an interesting conversation between the author of the book ‘Rulebreakers’ – Preeti Shenoy and the author of the book ‘Nine chambered heart’ – Janice Pariat and was moderated by Kiran Manral. These …
Hampi: Of Gods And Kings
The history that we come from is rich, and often has a sense of mystique around it. This is especially so when places like Hampi fall into the list. The city in ruins, and UNESCO World Heritage site, Hampi is …
Life, the Universe and Everything: The Influence of SF on Society
Science fiction has been one that catapults the reader into a world of possibilities. Be it time travel, or the world of superheroes, there is always something for everyone. What we miss is, however, the impact it has on society. …
ISRO: A Personal History
The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is one the most widely respected and revered organizations in the country. It has no doubt placed India on the map of Space research, with the many successful PSLVs, and the hugely popular …
Child Star to Her Own Woman
Elegance personified. That is Sarika. An actor that blossomed in front of the camera, Sarika literally grew up on movie sets. Starting her journey from Hamraaz as a child artist, she quickly captured the heart of the masses. The session …
Telling a Story, Shaping the World
Renuka Chatterjee was in conversation with authors Easterine Kire and Nora Bossong on the craft of telling a story and the stories that have shaped the world in some way or the other. Renuka Chatterjee is currently the Vice-President, Publishing, …
Mard Ko Dard Hoga: #MeToo
The wave of #MeToo swept the coast of Hollywood and toppled many of those in power. Moguls like Harvey Weinstein, beloved entertainers like Bill Cosby were brought to their knees. It heralded in a new age, that unveiled the pretence, …
Hunger’s Daughters
Nirmala Govindarajan is a complete Bengaluru writer. Sitting in the most iconic restaurant of the city, Koshy’s, with the usual suspects of the restaurant featuring in quite unusual ways through the naming of all male characters in the story, her …