The Gateway LitFest, one of the renowned regional language literature festivals in India, launched its new logo and visual identity, capturing the spirit of the LitFest and marking the next phase of its journey to bridge the worlds of Indian language literature.
At an event held at Mumbai Press Club on Friday, November 22, 2024, the new and aesthetically designed visual identity of this popular literature festival was unveiled by Aparna Piramal Raje, writer, thought leader and author of the bestseller Chemical Khichdi: How I Hacked My Mental Health; Karthi Marshan, eminent brand and marketing leader and former President & CMO, Kotak Mahindra Bank; and Saumya Roy, journalist, activist and co-founder, Vandana Foundation and author of Mountain Tales: Love and Loss in the Municipality of Castaway Belongings. Festival Director Mohan Kakanadan, Director, K J Bennychan, Programme Committee Chairman Vijay Sarupria were also present.
Gateway LitFest’s visual identity adopts the elegance of Indian calligraphy, blending diverse scripts to symbolize inclusivity. The identity mark is subtly shaped as GLF, fusing a pen nib with an open book – a nod to storytelling and the festival’s legacy.
The Eighth Gateway LitFest 2025 is scheduled to take place at The Royal Opera House, Mumbai on February 28 and March 1, 2025. The two-day literary carnival will host established and emerging writers from various Indian languages with a series of thoughtful, engaging and interactive sessions, offering a platform to the readers, literary enthusiasts, thinkers and thought leaders to exchange ideas to enrich the regional language literature landscape.
The new logo or the visual identity signifies the further diversification of the scope of Gateway LitFest as well as embracing emerging formats of storytelling influenced by new-age digital technologies and evolving content consumption habit. At the same time, the fundamental premise and core essence of the LitFest will remain intact i.e. to celebrate the works of Indian language writers and acknowledge the spirit of Indian language writing. Gateway LitFest in its eight edition aims to be more than a literature extravaganza. Its goal is to emerge as a dynamic platform that brings together literature enthusiasts, innovators, creators and brands.
As a part of the Gateway LitFest 2025 alphabets series, a precursor to the main event, a panel discussion on the topic ‘The impact of Indian languages in global literary landscape’ was also organised. Karthi Marshan and Aparna Piramal Raje were the panellists and Saumya Roy moderated the session.
While participating in the engrossing discussion, Karthi said, “The digital media and technologies are altering the reading habit or content consumption habit for that matter with the introduction of visuals and audio. They have also made regional language literature accessible and influenced the way languages written.”
Aparna said, “the linguistic diversity positions India strongly to build thought leadership in the global literature arena. The language diversity makes stories travel across geographies”.
While sharing her experience of taking part in the process of translating her book in Chinese and Japanese, Saumya said, “sometime, a deeply personal experience becomes uniquely universal. Language diversity actually supports plurality amid diversity of thoughts.”
Since its inception, Gateway LitFest has been uplifting the voice of India language writers in the true sense of the term. Over the years, the literature festival collaborated with more than 400 writers including 8 Jnanpith Award winning and more than 100 Sahitya Akademy Award winning authors in over 80 sessions. The LitFest has been playing a crucial role in bringing unknown and lesser-known languages such as Santhali, Kosali, Konkani, etc. into national space. The Eighth Gateway LitFest 2025 will return with a fabulous selection of authors, poets and thinkers.