Nemade-Rushdie spat to light up debates in LIC-Gateway LitFest of regional writers

Nemade-Rushdie spat to light up debates in LIC-Gateway LitFest of regional writers

Mumbai, February 12: The simmering debate over English versus  regional writings, flared up by the recent spat involving Salman Rushdie and Jnanpith winner Bhalchandra Nemade, is going to hog limelight as over 50 prominent writers from regional languages assemble for the two-day LIC-Gateway LitFest here from February 14.

“We have not included anything related to it as topic for debate officially. But, the authors are likely to raise the issue naturally. As organizers of the event, we also strongly deplore the abusive remarks by Rushdie. As the winner of our highest literary honour and being one of the tallest writers from a regional language, it is our responsibility to show our solidarity with Nemade,” said festival executive director Mohan Kakanadan.

This is the first ever such effort to bring together the regional writers at the same platform to discuss the latest trends in different streams of literature. The festival, being presented by Mumbai-based magazine Kaakka, has been conceptualized and organised by Passion4Communication, a media consultancy firm in the City.

The ongoing controversy around Rushdie is likely to come into focus in the first session itself which is on ``Too much global, too less regional: who is guilty of pushing regional writers and writings to the sidewalks?” 

“We are not against English writings. Our small attempt is to put regional writers and writings also under the limelight that now enjoyed greatly by English writers. We stand for the level-playing field to the maximum possible extent,” said Mohan.

A galaxy of writers, journalists and film-makers are attending the event at NCPA, Mumbai. The inaugural edition of the festival will give focus to seven languages –Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam,  Oriya, and Tamil. There will be exclusive sessions for some of these languages.

World renowned film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Marathi writer Laxman Gaikwad, banker and writer Ravi Subramanian, former secretary of Kendra Sahitya Akademi and writer Satchidanandan, Oscar award winner Resul Pookkutty, Kochi-Muziris Biennale president and curator Bose Krishnamachari, and editor and film writer Uma da Cunha are associated with the event as advisors, giving a thumbs up to the idea.

Apart from the festival advisors, the literary stalwarts for the festival include Gujarati poet and Padmashri awardee   Sitanshu Yashaschandra,   Subodh Sarkar (Bengal)  Leena Manimakalai, (film-maker and writer from Tamil Nadu),  Govind Nihalani,  Benyamin (Kerala),  Hemant Divatte, Satish Solankurkar (Maharashtra), actor-director Nandita Das, Sachin Ketkar (Gujarat), Kureeppuzha Sreekumar, Kalpetta Narayan, VR Sudhish, Manasi (all Kerala),  and Ramu Ramanathan.

Director-actress Nandita Das and Usha Jadhav, the national film award winner for the best actress last year will also add glamour to the festival of words. 

The event, which will witness the confluence of different writings styles, languages and ideologies, has also been designed to promote interactions between different literary streams and make them aware of the latest trends in their own languages.

The festival will discuss topics related to translation, literary heritage of Mumbai, film scripts and adaptation of literary works, freedom of expression, transformational ideals emerging in the corporate world, writings on the marginalized and new media tools for literature. One-on-ones, poetry recitals, book releases and conversations will also add glitter to the event.