Bangalore Literature Festival 2017: Kanhaiya Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Rahul Dravid part of lineup

Bengaluru: The sixth edition of the Bangalore Literature festival, to be held on 28 and 29 October, will see the participation of 130 renowned authors, speakers and artistes, the organisers said on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_3479787” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Twinkle Khanna. Image via News 18[/caption] “This year’s festival will have the theme ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’ and will feature authors, speakers like Ramachandra Guha, Perumal Murugan, Rahul Dravid, Girish Karnad, Twinkle Khanna and Sonal Mansingh among others,” an official statement from the organisers said. Deccan Chronicle reports that Indira Lankesh will headline this year’s festival, discussing her upcoming autobiography. The line-up this year also includes Kanhaiya Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Rahul Dravid, Ramachandra Guha, Perumal Murugan, Suketu Mehta and Anil Kumble. Some of the discussions to take place include topics like ‘Jingoism vs patriotism’, ‘How India’s T-20 World Cup changed Indian and world cricket’, and ‘Chasing Bin Laden’. “Every year the festival returns in a new way. This time too we promise you the previously unsaid — honest, direct conversations coming your way,” said Festival Director and author Shinie Antony in the statement. International authors this year include Australian cricket writer Gideon Haigh, acclaimed South African writer Imraan Coovadia, Sri Lankan humourist Chhimi Tenduf-La and British journalist Adrian Levy. Young authors will be represented by Kanhaiya Kumar, Savi Sharma, Varun Agarwal and others. The two-day festival, which is free and open to all, would also have performances like a piano recital by Natallia Kopylova and Liudmila Alizarchyk, music by German poet Jessy James among others. The Bangalore Literature Festival is a non-profit initiative founded by a team of Shinie Antony, historian Vikram Sampath and venture capital investor Srikrishna Ramamoorthy. The festival also has former Infosys Director TV Mohandas Pai, entrepreneur Harish Bijoor among others as its advisors. With inputs from IANS.