Source :
Times of India
The capital’s most power-packed literary and intellectual festival of ideas is back. The third edition of
Times Litfest Delhi returns to Delhi on November 25 and 26, with a galaxy of authors, thinkers, artistes, poets and public intellectuals.
The theme of this year’s fest is “Celebrating New India”, bringing a host of voices from the arts, literature and culture to debate the country’s achievements and discuss the direction in which it is heading. It will celebrate the new, assess where we stand as a country and try and forecast the future through talks, debates and keynote addresses.
Participating authors and artistes include Kamal Haasan, Baba Ramdev, Jayant Sinha, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Arun Shourie, Amish, Shashi Tharoor, Mahesh Rangarajan, Perumal Murugan, Devdutt Pattanaik, Abhinav Chandrachud, Bibek Debroy, Anuja Chauhan, Swara Bhaskar, Nandita Das, Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan and a host of other diverse talents.
To be inaugurated by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, the fest will showcase a marquee debate, “Nationalism in 21st century India: a unifying or divisive force?” It will also focus on the voice of the millennials, with Gurmehar Kaur speaking about the youth presence on social media. The fest will also showcase the writings of veteran authors Nayantara Sahgal and Kiran Nagarkar, who will give talks on how they see New India shaping.
Litfest to discuss Delhi’s bad air
Given the concerns about the environment, Sunita Narain will deliver a public lecture on the challenges of keeping Delhi’s air clean at Times
Litfest Delhi 2017. Exciting new breakthroughs in psychoanalysis and its link with neurosurgery will be explored by one of India’s new breed of literary surgeons, Ambarish Satwik.
In the 100th year of Indira Gandhi, the fest will also host a discussion on the supremo cult in Indian politics. Can free speech ever be an absolute freedom in a country like India? That’s slated to be one of the important debates at the fest.
Art in the time of nationalism, technological and scientific innovations, the place of women in India’s public life, the role of dissent in democracy, social media as a battleground for politics, the rise of new spiritual explorations of the world and of the self, the need to turn history’s gaze on India’s Founding Mothers rather than only the founding fathers and the rise of cricket as a force of democratisation in new India — all these themes will be talked about and addressed at the Times
Lit Fest Delhi 2017. Make sure to catch it all!
Times Litfest Delhi, presented by Rajnigandha, is on Nov 25 & 26 at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road. Entry is free.