Literature lovers in for a literary feast

HYDERABAD: A literary feast awaits literature lovers in the city. The second edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival, a three-day event, is all set to begin at the Taramati Baradari in Gandipet from Jan 16. Organised jointly by Muse India, an e-journal, and the State Tourism Department, it will feature talks and panel discussions by about 80 authors from India and abroad. Regional writers, including 15 from different parts of the State, will also be taking part in the literary fest. Writers like Mark Tully, Vamsee Juluri, Tabish Khair, Meena Alexander, Abburi Chhaya Devi and Amish Tripathi are among the invitees.The three days, which are packed with varied sessions, including conversations with authors, will offer literature students an opportunity to interact with their favourite writers. The festival is open to all but those wanting to be a delegate can go in for registration. The registration fees for a single day is `500 while for the three days, it is `1200. There will also be competitions for school and college students. "We've invited entries for different categories like photography, short films, fusion music and street play. The top seven entries will be awarded. Besides that, we have also instituted two national prizes - one for translation from a regional language to English, and one called the young writer award. This year's young writer award will focus on poetry," said Prof Vijay Kumar, Joint Director, Osmania University Centre for International Programmes. The organisers have also decided to incorporate the concept of a featured nation from this edition. "Given that this year we are celebrating 150 years of Indo-German relations, it seemed befitting that Germany be the featured nation. Accordingly, we have invited two very prominent translators - Christopher Kloeble and Urs Widmer. The Jazz fusion band Triotonos will also perform on the first day of the festival," executive director of Goethe-Zentrum, Hyderabad, Amita Desai said. Lyricist Gulzaar and diplomat Pavan Varma will attend the inaugural.