Mumbai Literature Live!: Everything you wanted to know

Mumbai’s lit fiesta is back in its second year, but it’s small-scale, and peppered with big names for good measure. The four-day event that will go from 3 to 6 November at the NCPA, will feature book releases and discussions by Thomas Friedman, William Dalrymple, Sir Mark Tully, Vikram Seth, Pulitzer prize winner Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Shashi Tharoor. [caption id=“attachment_120854” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters/ AFP Photo”]  [/caption] While Tomas Friedman will revisit the theme he wrote about six years ago in a panel discussion titled ‘Is the world really flat’ and there will be a musical book reading of Dalrymple’s 2006 release, The Last Mughal (2006), there will be three big India book releases to look forward to — Vikram Seth’s The Rivered Earth, David Davidar’s Ithaca and Sir Mark Tully’s Non-Stop India.  Unlike literary fests go, poetry readings and panel discussions over the four days will be mixed up with performances — poems played to the Cello and the bansuri by Matthew Harp, Neil Astley and Sameer Rao; a cabaret concerto; etc. For further departure, the fest for some odd reason includes a discussion on whether our innovations are better than the West’s because of our differing approach, and a comic performance on the financial crisis. Here’s a day-by day schedule: Tata Literature Live! the Mumbai LitFest Schedule