Mumbai, 7th August 2019: It’s that time of the year, when Mumbai will open its arms for bibliophiles from across the country. Indian authors, Literary Intellects & book lovers will conjure at Lit-O-Fest Mumbai, Mumbai’s only literature carnival that has left an indelible imprint since its very first edition. Lit-O-Fest Mumbai, now in its 5th edition is hosted by GLK Global Events and is more enriching and empowering this year while offering a melange of activities witnessing speakers deliberating on works and ideas through literature, lived experiences, culture, arts and films. To be held at Hill Spring International School, Tardeo, Mumbai on August 10th & 11th, 2019, This two day festival will be focused on offering every writer an equal opportunity and space to be seen, heard and publish. Like its past editions the Litofest Mumbai this year also has a hard-hitting theme for writers, poets and artists to ponder on.
Lit-O-Fest is a one of its kind initiative with a philanthropic perspective as this is an only platform where on-the-spot publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors. The major highlight of this year is Lit-o-Fest Mumbai is launching autonomous publishing arm ‘Lit-O-fest Ink’-, which will help to build a bridge between publishers and un-published authors. The first year of Lit-O-Fest Ink will witness launch books on varied subjects selected from Manuscript Contest 2018. Every year Lit-o-Fest receives approximately 150-200 manuscripts for the ‘Manuscript Contest’ from which 5 books will be launched under Lit-O-Fest Ink. ‘Kavita Sangrah’ by Gaurow Gupta, ‘Me Too’ by Sukanya Mallik, ‘Perspective’ by Kritika Sehgal, ‘Bings of Light’ by Sawan Winchester and ‘Lipstick’ by Bidisha Sarkar are the books that will be launched this year. This year Lit-O-fest has received around 250 Manuscripts from across the globe including countries like Canada, Sweden, UAE etc.
Major highlight of this year is, Lit-O-Fest Living Legend’ award will be bestowed on the legendary Mrs. Pushpa Bharti who will pay tribute to Shri. Harivansh Rai Bachchan & Shri.Dharamvir Bharti for their incredible contribution to literature. Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award 2019 for outstanding contribution towards Indian Literature will be given to Shri Ashok Chakradhar. Lit-O-Fest Legend Award 2019 in the field of Journalism- Mr Vinod Dua. Lit-O-Fest Legend Award in the field of Literature- Shri Shesh Narain Singh. Lit-O-Fest Literature Award for Social Issue-based Film Writing for the film Article 15- Mr Anubhav Sinha. Lit-O-Fest Literature Award for Social Issue-based Film Writing for the film Article 15- Mr Gaurav Solanki.
Smita Parikh, Festival Director, Lit-O-Fest and Founder GLK Global Events shares, “Lit-O-Fest is the only global literature festival existing in India out of the several other premium festivals the country hosts across different states. We have an excellent line-up of engaging panel discussions from a humourous discourse with Padmashri Ashok Chakradhar on ‘Chakradhar Ke Chaman Main’ to ‘She the people’ for Women Centric Stories to Mumbai’s top bureaucrats discussing on How Maharashtra State works with ‘Maharashtra Rules’ to Terrorism- A Critical Global Threat’ with Krishna Prakash, and Col. Lalit Rai. All in all, Lit-O-Fest Mumbai is now an eclectic mix of culture, literature and a premium platform to engage eminent people from the country. The Fest will soon expand its global footprint with a Vancouver Chapter soon next year after a successful London Chapter last year”.
The inaugural day with see a poetic perfomance’ titled Rumaaniyat’, by Smita Parikh in conversation with Actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The day further will also see Rhea Chakraborthy, Atika Farooqui and Saima Ahmad and Smita Parikh performing on Bhagi hui Ladkiyan’ A Contemporary Mushaira along with a Live Calligraphy Art demonstration by Artist Salva Rasool and Artist Achyut Palav. Day 1 will also see a panel discussion on on ‘She the people’ for Women Centric Stories by Atika Farooqui, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Mannu Sandhu and more. Day 2 will see a poetic performance by Pankaj Dubey and Kena Shree on ‘Trending in Love’ with Live charcoal painting exhibition by Charcoal Master Artist Gautam Patole. The event will also see a Book Launch of Ghulam Mustafa Khan Sahab’s book ‘A Dream I Lived Alone’, by eminent speaker Hariharan which will also be one of the major attractions. Legendary best seller Ashwini Sanghi, a constant with Lit-O-Fest Mumbai will be again seen this year in his Intellectual best while sharing his success mantra for writing through his success stories.
The two day fest will unfold several spotlight sessions and hard-hitting discussions on economical and social topics like, Indian Economy Changing Faces with who’s who from Finance & Corporate world. Some more discourses to watch out for are Kiran Nagarkar’s- Reinventing Kabir which will talk about reinventing Kabir in the era of bigotry & unreason. Workshops like ‘how to get published’ by Meghna Pant and ‘The Chatur Chanakya’ by Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai will be held on the sidelines of Lit-O-fest 2019. A section of the festival is also dedicated to Art & Artists with show titled ‘ A picture speaks thousand words’ being held.
For audience across sections and regions, the festival ensures uninterrupted flow of ideas, live music sessions, interactive workshops and a space to dare, dream and imagine. Like last year, this year’s festival will have the country’s leading authors, artists, singers, filmmakers, bureaucrats and dignitaries as guests and panelists, and will host insightful discussions and delightful cultural events to engage and entertain audiences.
