Chandigarh Literati or Chandigarh Literature Festival is a

literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...

held in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is organised by the Chandigarh Literary Society with the support of the Chandigarh Administration and Haryana Tourism.

History

According to the chairperson of Dr. Sumita Misra, IAS, the Chandigarh Literati was originally conceived in an attempt to promote the literary arts in the city, provide a platform for talented regional writers and thinkers and make available world-class writers to the public. The festival promotes poetry, haiku, vernacular writers as well as fiction and non-fiction writers in English and regional languages like Punjabi, Hindi, etc. "Chandigarh Lit Fest shall showcase the very best in contemporary writing from established and emerging writers, and inspire children as well as all those engaged in creative reading and writing pursuits."

2013 Festival

The 2013 festival was graced by more than thirty authors from different parts of the country, including bestselling authors and celebrities like Bhaskar Ghose,

Gul Panag Gul Panag (born Gulkirat Kaur Panag, 3 January 1979; Chandigarh, India) is an Indian actress, voice actress, model, and former beauty queen who competed in the Miss Universe pageant. Panag began her career in Bollywood with the 2003 film '' Dho ...

Ashwin Sanghi Ashwin Sanghi (born 25 January 1969) is an Indian writer and author of the novels: '' The Rozabal Line'', ''Chanakya's Chant'', ''The Krishna Key'', Sialkot Saga, Keepers Of The Kalachakra, The Vault of Vishnu and The Magicians of Mazda. B ...

Jerry Pinto Jerry Pinto (born 1966) is a Mumbai-based Indian English poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, as well as journalist. Pinto's works include '' Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'' (2006), which won the Best Book on Cinema Award at ...

, Meghna Pant, V. Sudarshan, Tishaa Khosla, etc. The two-day festival was organised at the Lake View Club on 23-24 November. There were many sessions which included book readings, author discussions and book launches. The festival attracted visitors from all across the country.

Participating Authors

The following authors participated in the 2013 Chandigarh Literati. *

Kishwar Desai Kishwar Desai (''née'' Rosha) (born 1 December 1956) is an Indian author and columnist. Her first novel, ''Witness the Night'', won the Costa Book Award in 2010 for Best First Novel and has been translated into over 25 languages. It was also sh ...

* Bhaskar Ghose *

Madhu Kishwar Madhu Purnima Kishwar is an Indian academic and a commentator.

* Imtiaz Ali *

Kishalay Bhattacharjee Kishalay Bhattacharjee (born 1969) is an Indian, senior journalist, columnist and author. He has written three books: Che in Paona Bazaar, Blood on my Hands and An Unfinished Revolution. He is currently working as a Professor and Dean of the ...

* Jaideep Bhoosreddy *

Upamanyu Chatterjee Upamanyu Chatterjee (born 1959) is an author and a retired Indian civil servant. His works include the novel '' English, August: An Indian story'', '' The Last Burden'', '' The Mammaries of the Welfare State'' and ''Weight Loss''. In 2008, he was ...

* Angelee Deodhar * Krishna Shastri Devulapalli * Pam Handa *

Irshad Kamil Irshad Kamil (born 5 September 1971) is an Indian poet and lyricist. His songs appear in Bollywood films including ''Jab We Met'', '' Chameli'', '' Love Aaj Kal'', ''Rockstar'', ''Aashiqui 2, Raanjhanaa, Highway, Tamasha,'' and ''Jab Harry Met ...

* Manju Kapur * Tishaa Khosla * Gen. V.P. Malik *

Govind Mishra Govind Mishra (born 1 August 1939) is an Indian novelist, who has written more than 53 books. He was also a civil servant with Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and retired as Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes in 1997. Over the years, he h ...

Rahul Pandita Rahul Pandita () is an Indian author and journalist. Early life Rahul Pandita is a Kashmiri Pandit born in the Kashmir Valley. In 1990, at the age of 14, he had to leave the Valley along with his family as part of the Exodus of Kashmiri Pand ...

Pushpesh Pant Pushpesh Pant (born 1946) is an Indian academic, food critic and historian. He retired as a Professor of International relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He is one of India's leading experts on International Relations as well as ...

Meghna Pant Meghna Pant is an Indian author, journalist and speaker. She has won a variety of awards for her contribution to literature, gender issues and journalism. In 2012, she won the Muse India National Literary Awards Young Writer Award for her debut ...

* Nandita C. Puri * Manjula Rana *

* Navtej Singh Sarna * Manish Shukla *

Jai Arjun Singh Jai Arjun Singh is a New Delhibased freelance writer and journalist. He has written for Yahoo! India, ''Business Standard'', ''The Hindu'', ''The Man'', ''Tehelka'', ''Outlook Traveler'', ''The Sunday Guardian'' and the ''Hindustan Times'', among o ...

* Mohyna Srinivasan * Bubbu Tir *

Ashok Vajpeyi Ashok Vajpeyi ( hi, अशोक वाजपेयी; born 1941) is an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, literary-cultural critic, apart from being a noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant. He was chairman, Lali ...

* Ram Varma * Chandra Shekhar Verma * Gyan Prakash Vivek

References

{{Reflist

External links

Chandigarh Literature Festival
- Official website. Literary festivals in India