Annotations from the Aisles: Festival Dispatches is our curated window into the conversations, curiosities, and colour of BlrLitFest. Written by an eclectic group of volunteer bloggers, these are first-hand accounts from sessions across the festival. From incisive author dialogues to panels on technology, culture, identity, and more, each capturing the moments that made this year’s gathering at Freedom Park come alive. Dive into these dispatches to relive ideas, insights, and the spirit of discovery that defined the 14th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival.
“Our approach is not a ‘to do list’, but a Hippocratic Oath of ‘do no harm’ and that is why we were talking earlier about the early achievements and why we should stop undermining them.” A line that pretty much …
If there is anything that can keep people in Bengaluru at the Lit Fest at 7 PM on a Saturday evening, despite the traffic they have to brace afterwards, it is a session by Shashi Tharoor.
With an audience of …
As the audience settled for the session to begin, the moderator Udayan opened the event by playing the original Akashvani signature tune, the one that got aired every morning at 5:58 AM during the AIR (All India Radio) days. The …
If you ever wanted a panel that sliced through morality, love, insecurity, and the architecture of relationships with wit and startling clarity, Arundathi Ghosh and Manu Joseph delivered it brutally honest, unexpectedly tender, and wildly funny in this session.
Manu …
Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize is probably the only major literary prize that considers translations, short-story anthologies, and self-published works. The awards are distributed across eight categories, and the winners are chosen by a jury that remains …
During the first day of the 14th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival, the stage in the Open Cell likely observed the widest spectrum of vibes. What started as the nostalgic corner of Sufi ghazals and classical ragas evolved into …
“The pause on my lips
You fill in what you feel”
James Shea read this two-lined poem during the session, and in a way it captured the entire theme of the conversation. A poem that leaves space. A poem that …
Sadhana Rao initiated the panel, stating that arts and creativity are not defined by a set flow but find their motive in the act of flowing itself, unbound by discipline or stridency. This panel consisting of two distinct voices from …
The wind was not on his side that day. Gourav was running(quite literally) through the streets of a city he barely knew, chasing a man he believed to be “Dronacharya to my Ekalavya”. It was his only chance to tell …
Food and its evocative tales are often referred to as the barometers of cultures. The culinary arts bear a syncretic relation with everything that we experience. Our lives, our experiences and our stories, our ecology and the future we behold. …
As someone who campaigns for the inclusion of graphic novels in the literary scene, this event became one of those larger-than-life events. I had to get the front seats!
Full disclosure: Like many of the head-scratching, bespectacled, hooded nerds, I …
The closing day of the 14th Bangalore Literature Festival felt less like the end of a nerd’s weekend retreat and more like the next chapter of an R.F. Kuang story. Best-selling authors—both the fresh faces and the well-known figures from …
The post-lunch session brought together writer Tanuj Tanuj and journalist-author Ghazala Ghazala for a penetrating conversation on one of the most debated, misunderstood, and politically charged spaces in India: the Hindi Heartland.
Tanuj opened the conversation with the very pertinent …
It was a Sunday morning, Day 2 of the 14th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival. Clare expressed joy being in the Bangalore air, amidst the Bangalore people.
The conversation was to be a focus on Clare’s book about navigating …
In the age of ever-reducing attention spans, relying on memory is tricky. And here we have a session where three writers made a bold decision to write memoirs.
The session was a treasure trove of stories from three very different …
The second day of the festival opened with a warm and lively session led by author and illustrator Archana Sreenivasan, who brought her picture book Indian Food from A to Z (India on a Plate) to life for a …
Some sessions feel like conversations, and some feel like quiet revelations. Just Like a Woman, moderated by Diaa Hadid, began with a laugh when she said, “Do not worry, we are not talking about polyamory today,” and from that …
This highly engaging session opened with Rudraneil warmly welcoming Clare, who responded by saying ‘Dhanyavaad’ (‘Thank you’ in Hindi).
Rudraneil expressed a tinge of jealousy while reading her profile, since he had taken a lot of time to connect with …
This session brought together three very different writers: Kazim Ali, a poet and novelist known for his lyrical and reflective work; Sabin Iqbal, a journalist and novelist who writes closely from people, places and social realities; and Ponnu Elizabeth Mathew, …
At the Little Storymakers session, Meera Venkatesan did what she does best. She turned a regular festival morning into a space full of imagination and laughter. Children gathered around her in a close circle, some sitting cross-legged, some standing on …
