“We hadn’t expected such a huge turnout on the first day,’ said Ajit Baral, Festival Director and President of Bookworm Trust, one of the joint organizers of the event, looking at the crowd who were standing at the edge of the pavilion when seats fell short.[break]
Abhi Subedi, prominent poet, playwright and essayist, and who had delivered the keynote speech at the inaugural ceremony, commented at the end of his speech that he was amazed by the audience’s patience, who braved the delayed inauguration. Later, he said he was delighted by the crowd’s attention and commitment to literature.
The festival saw a unique amalgamation of writers, poets, artists, playwrights, media persons, politicians and students – literature being the common interests for all of them. The event was also a blend of young and old participants.
Bairagi Kaila, Chancellor of Nepal Academy, the co-organizer of the event, said in his speech during the inauguration program that the festival would be a platform to share ideas through many literary conversations that would be taking place during the four days of the litfest.
Apart from the remarkable participation of Nepali literati in the event, the festival will also see the participation of bestselling Indian authors – Advaita Kala, Amish Tripathi, and Vinod Mehta.
Organized over a total of 39 sessions, the four-day festival will have interesting discussions on various issues regarding literature.
A total of nine books by various writers will also be launched during the festival.
On the first day (yesterday), after the inaugural ceremony, the festival started with its first session on “1990 Pachhiko Badlindo Nepali Samaj” (The changing Nepali society after 1990) at the Dabali with Chaitanya Mishra, CK Lal and Ghanashyam Bhusal, and moderated by Ajay Dixit.
Simultaneously, Jagadish Ghimire’s new novel “Sakas” was launched at another venue of the same premises.
There were four other sessions in the evening.
Hari Maya Bhetwal, a poet who was one of the back-standers during the first session, said she was excited to see so many people interested in literature on a single platform. But she added that she was disheartened by a simple slip in technical issues of the event.
“If the festival had started with some literature session, I would’ve been more excited,” she added.
Baral said he was very hopeful of the festival, that it will be a huge success.
“We have this overwhelming participation on a working day. The weekend is yet to come, so the participation probably will rise on those days,” he said.
The literature festival will continue till September 23, from 11am to 6 pm.
The Week’s Picks
September 21, Friday
Mediaspeak: How Media Talks to Us
Kishore Nepal, Sudheer Sharma, Ajaya Bhadra Khanal
Moderator: Narayan Wagle
(11 am -12 pm)
Lucknow Boy
Yubaraj Ghimire in conversation with Vinod Mehta (12 pm -1 pm)
The Rise of Chicklit
Richa Bhattarai in conversation with Advaita Kala (3pm -4pm)
Rewriting Myth
Abhay Kumar in conversation with Amish Tripathi (4pm -5pm)
September 22, Saturday
Mukta Varta
Saroj Dhital and Jagadish Ghimire
Moderator: Shekhar Kharel
(11 am -12pm)
Plagiarism: From Academia to Journalism
Dharma Adhikari, Akhilesh Upadhyay, Anirudra Thapa
Moderator: Deepak Adhikari
(12pm – 1pm)
The Outlook Years
Kunda Dixit in conversation with Vinod Mehta (3pm -4pm)
Kabitaka Shakti ra Seema
Ramesh Kshitiz, Biplav Dhakal, Momila, Shrawan Mukarung
Moderator: Manu Manjil (3pm -4pm)
Writing Life
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Moderator: Kurchi Dasgupta (4pm -5pm)
September 23, Sunday
Audience Lost and Found
Nishchal Basnet, Ujjwal Ghimire, Tsering Ritar Sherpa
Moderator: Yangesh (11am -12pm)
Rewriting History
Ramesh Dhungel, Pratyoush Onta
Moderator: Bishnu Sapkota (2pm -3pm)
Natak Jaari Chha
Ashesh Malla, Sunil Pokhrel,
Dayahang Rai
Moderator: Khagendra Lamichhane
(4pm -5pm)
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