Festival fever

A reading of ghost stories at the Park Street cemetery in Kolkata, followed by a session with Ruskin Bond; another session with Yann Martel, author of Life Of Pi, on a boat on the river Hooghly; and sundry other such delights await visitors to the Kolkata Literary Meet (KLM) 2019 (22-27 January). “We felt it was time to disrupt the way in which lit fests are organized," says KLM director Malavika Banerjee on the phone, explaining these unusual innovations.

Featuring an illustrious line of authors, from André Aciman (of Call Me By Your Name fame) to Aatish Taseer, KLM also has musicians Hidayat Husain Khan and Amjad Ali Khan poised to perform at the proceedings. And while the star attraction among the venues remains the Victoria Memorial Hall, KLM is spreading to other parts of the city, like the ICCR Satyajit Ray auditorium and the Calcutta Club. Timed with the 150th birth anniversary of M.K. Gandhi, his biographer Ramachandra Guha will be in conversation with his grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Film-maker Anjan Dutt will perform a song he has composed as a tribute at a session to remember the late Mrinal Sen.

For more information, visit Kolkatalitmeet.in/2019