Online literary extravaganza
The first Kindle LitFestX will take place in Bengaluru homes (with an Internet Connection) from October 23 to November 1
By : soumashree sarkar
Update: 2015-10-18 00:46 GMT
If you’ve ever been to a literature festival in India then you probably know the stereotypes that throng the over-crowded tents by now. The controversy monger, the avid note-taker, the intellectual sipping his glass of overpriced tea and the one man or woman who, no matter who the speaker, will ask her a question on the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other.’ You have always enjoyed books in solitude, and now here comes a literature fest that you can enjoy in the very same way. Far from the madding crowd, the Kindle LitFestX will take place in every home that has a working internet connection, from October 23 to November 1, and true to its reputation as the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru cannot wait to log in!
Kumar Bagrodia, who was one of the people who conceptualised the online literary extravaganza, aims it first and foremost at these who are unable to access literature fests. Kumar says, “There are a number of lit fests all over India but even the most thriving of them is accessible to a maximum of a thousand people out of 1.252 billion in the country. So we will open up YouTube, Google Hangout and Facebook options for everyone who did not have time to go to festivals and also to anyone who had the time but not the resources to participate in an elite discussion.”
With authors from across the globe like Lord Meghnad Desai and Cornelia Funke to Bengaluru’s own Shweta Taneja and Preeti Shenoy logging into the festival portal from their own homes, this promises to be a genuinely remote exchange platform. Bengaluru author Anita Nair is one of those who is looking forward to her session at the fest. Nair says, “An online literary festival cuts across several boundaries. I am quite active on social media and use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These are platforms for me to interact with readers and speak my thoughts.”
With audience participants requiring no prior registration to join the festival, a spur of the moment decision to make your literary thoughts heard can be quite rewarding. Author Krishna Shastri Devulapalli delves into the ‘real’ reasons behind an online festival’s success. He says, “It’s difficult to drink at regular festivals during sessions. But at a virtual lit fest, keeping a glass full of whisky just out of camera range and taking furtive sips is a cinch.
Also, as only your face and the upper part of your torso are visible, you can wear your rattiest boxers during the session. Tell me, what more does a writer need for the deepest of literary discussions?”