Hyderabad: Unlike the Jaipur, Kolkata and Delhi literary festivals, the 8th edition of the Hyderabad Literary Fest (HLF), which begins on Friday, has no sponsors and thus does not get prominent authors to attend. This year, HLF-2018 is also clashing with the well-established and celebrity studded Jaipur literary festival.
Organisers of the Hyderabad Book Fest find it difficult to get speakers to commit dates due to prior assignments and probably also because they don't pay them due to lack of funds.
The selection of participants is based on the recommendation of publishers, public demand and a few chosen by the festival directors.
Rohan. K, one of the organisers of the Jaipur Litfest told this newspaper that “months ahead of the festival, authors, artists, performers and infrastructure designers are booked. Dates of well-known authors are sought in advance and they are signed up for the fest. The JLF has dedicated annual funders.”
For the 9th Apeejay Kolkata Lit Fest, which got over in the second week of January, the organiser tied up with brands and even 'Bonjour India' to generate funding.
A director of the HLF, who did not want to disclose details of funding, told Deccan Chronicle that, “HLF in all its editions has never paid authors except for their travel and stay. The funds collected go into the making of the setup. The selection is based on selective public demand, authors who write to HLF and recommendation of publishers. This year we have picked authors who have recent publications and those whose work has garnered more reviews.”
However, despite a weak line-up of participants, HLF is ranked third in the top-five list of literary festivals across India. This is not an official evaluation; the festivals are ranked on the basis of reports in the media, independent surveys done by magazines and TV channels etc. Jaipur is first, followed by Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune or Goa. Some independent surveys have put Chennai and Bengaluru ahead of Hyderabad.
The Indian language in focus, at this year’s HLF is Kannada, but Chandrasekhara Kambara, winner of the Jnanpith award, and a well-known Kannada author, has dropped out due to ill health.
