Dhaka Lit Fest from Nov 7

THE Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) kicks off its ninth edition on November 7. The three-day festival, which began life as Hay Dhaka in 2012, is a celebration of ideas in an old-fashioned sense, which is that it provides a space for thoughts the political leaders might not want to hear. 

Despite presence of various international speakers, the DLF has no entry fee like many of its regional counterparts in India. This is a major factor that makes it heavily oversubscribed. More than 30,000 people visited over three days last year, most of them young. The audience is comprised of those who might not normally be exposed to such diverse views. 

Like previous editions, this year too, the DLF will include international speakers as well as writers, artists, poets and musicians from across Bangladesh.

William Dalrymple, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Gettleman, HM Naqvi, award-winning author of Home Boy, Thomas Roueché and Yara Rodrigues Fowler will be some of the speakers having a global appeal.

Big names from India would include Shashi Tharoor, Manoranjan Byapari, Anjum Katyal, Arunava Sinha, Sumana Roy, Debajyoti Mishra, Priyanka Dubey, Rahul Soni among others. — TNS