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 city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

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

History

According to the chairperson of 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."

Festival timeline

2013

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 Gulkirat Kaur Panag (born 3 January 1979) is an Indian actress, voice actress, and model. She was crowned Femina Miss India Universe 1999 and represented India at Miss Universe 1999. She began her career in Hindi films with the 2003 film '' D ...

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

, Jerry Pinto, 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 * Bhaskar Ghose *

Madhu Kishwar Madhu Purnima Kishwar is an Indian academic and a Hindutva 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 th ...

* 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 wa ...

* Angelee Deodhar * Krishna Shastri Devulapalli * Pam Handa *

Irshad Kamil Dr. Irshad Kamil (born 5 September 1971) is an Indian poet and lyricist. His songs appeared in Bollywood films including ''Jab We Met'', '' Chameli'', '' Love Aaj Kal'', '' Rockstar'', '' Laila Majnu'', ''Aashiqui 2'', ''Raanjhanaa'', ''Highw ...

Manju Kapur Manju Kapur is an Indian novelist. Her first novel, ''Difficult Daughters'', won the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, Europe and South Asia. Personal life She is married to Gun Nidhi Dalmia; they have three children and four ...

* Tishaa Khosla * Gen. V.P. Malik * Govind Mishra *

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 Pandi ...

* Pushpesh Pant *

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 ...

* Jerry Pinto * Nandita C. Puri * Manjula Rana *

* Navtej Singh Sarna * Manish Shukla *

Jai Arjun Singh Jai Arjun Singh is an Indian freelance writer and journalist based in New Delhi. He has written for Yahoo! India, ''Business Standard'', ''The Hindu'', ''The Man'', ''Tehelka'', ''Outlook Traveler'', ''The Sunday Guardian'' and the ''Hindustan Tim ...

* Mohyna Srinivasan * Bubbu Tir * Ashok Vajpeyi * Ram Varma * Chandra Shekhar Verma * Gyan Prakash Vivek

2014

Literati 2014 was a three day gala affair from 7-9 November with poetry, plays, book launches, panel discussions and much more.

2015

2015 festival was a three day affair from 6-8 November with poetry, plays, sufi music, book launches, panel discussions galore. In this festival following authors and poets participated; Kiran Nagarkar, Nayantara Sahgal, Anusha Yadav, Malavika Karlekar, Naman P. Ahuja, Tishani Doshi, Ashok Vajpeyi, Mridula Koshi, Sandip Roy, Mahesh Rao, Teesta Setalvad, Anupam Srivastava, Jonathan Gill Harris, Madhulika Liddle, Ratna Vira, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, Kausar Munir, Munna Dhiman, Jane De Suza, Ravi Subramanian, Ravinder Singh, Vinita Dawra Nangia, Nighat Gandhi, Dhritabrata B. Tato, Sohaila Kapur, Neena Wagh, Payal Dhar, Himanjali Sankar, Devika Rangachari, Tavleen Singh, Leila Seth, Gul Panag, Chandra Shekhar Varma, Prachnad Praveer, Sharad Singh, Madhav Kaushik, Gulzar Sandhu, Bubbu Tir, Sudhir Mishra, Hugh & Colleen Gantzer, Amrita Chatterjee, Puneetinder Kaur Sandhu, Ashoke Mitra, Rishi Vohra, Simran Grewal, Renana Jhabvala, Bahar Dutt, Chandra Trikha, Vandana Shukla.

2016

2016 festival was a two day event held on 26 & 27 November 2016 with poetry, plays, book launches, panel discussions galore.

2017

Literati 2017 was a two day event held on 25 & 26 November 2017 Sukhna Lake Club lawns with poetry, plays, book launches, panel discussions galore. Following authors and poets participated and attended the event; Raskin Bond, Saurabh Sharma, Archna Sahni, Vineet Bajpai, Sheela Reddy, Rakhshanda Jalil, Robin Gupta, Ram Varma, Vandana Shukla, Neel Kamal Puri, Chetna Keer, Atamjeet Singh, Jasbeer Mand, Manmohan Singh, Rujuta Diwekar, Lee Maracle, Columpa C. Bobb, Khushwant Singh, Shantanu Gupta.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Chandigarh Literature Festival
- Official website. Literary festivals in India