The curtain raiser of the 16th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival was held at the Oxford Bookstore in Kolkata on Saturday. Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee was among the dignitaries present at the event that was attended by book lovers from across the city.
The highlight of the curtain raiser event was the exclusive launch of Banerjee’s new book Chhaunk: On Food, Economics And Society. The book’s illustrator, Cheyenne Oliver, joined Banerjee in a discussion with Dr Anuradha Lohia, former Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University.
The festival is scheduled to take place from January 10 to 12, with events spanning multiple locations in the city. The primary venue will be Allen Park on Park Street, with additional sessions of Poetry Cafe hosted at Alliance Francaise du Bengale and Oxford Junior Literary Festival (OJLF) at the Oxford Bookstore.
This year’s festival will see a host of speakers, most notable among them are William Dalrymple, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Milind Soman, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Anand Neelakantan, Shobhaa De etc.
The OJLF will engage young readers with author sessions, workshops, games, and storytelling, nurturing creativity and a love for literature. Meanwhile, the Poetry Cafe at Alliance Française du Bengale offers a vibrant platform for poets to share ideas.
Anjum Katyal, the director of Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Swagat Sengupta, the CEO of Apeejay Oxford Bookstores, and Neeta Sreedharan, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival’s Programming Head were present.
"In its 16th edition, the festival continues to have its finger on the pulse of what people are thinking and talking about, thanks to its connection with Oxford Bookstore, which ensures a year-round engagement with books,” Katyal said.
“So, you will find a strong focus on current issues like the environment, history and mythology, politics and current affairs, gender and women's writing, translation, memoir, and more.”
