Ahmedabad: Gujarat Literature Festival (GLF), is back for the fourth season. With a wide diversity of authors, poets, performers and experts, not only from Gujarat but across the world, GLF promises to be the most exciting cerebral event this year in Gujarat.

The Festival is language-neutral and will have sessions in Gujarati, English, Hindi, and Urdu this year. GLF stands out amongst all other literature festivals in its philosophy. It will focus on boosting acceptance of Gujarati and nurturing fresh talent in Gujarati writing, while giving room to all other languages.

The Festival has planned two days of pre-inauguration events to bring more focus on literary activities. GLF has partnered with Sabarmati Ashram to host the first event of the season on the river-facing Ashram terrace. On Wednesday, December 14, 2016, a concert by Vidya Rao will take place. The known Thumri singer will sing Bapu Bhajans and other songs.

This will be followed by a day full of workshops on Thursday, December 15 at the Festival venue, The Kanoria Center for Arts and CEPT premises, Opp. Gujarat University Campus, on the University Road in Ahmedabad. In all, over 10 workshops have been planned during the five days.

The Festival will be inaugurated by Governor of Gujarat Shri O P Kohliji on Friday, December 16, 2016. The inaugural event will start at 9.30 am and on the spot registrations will start at 8.30 am.

Continuing with the philosophy that Literature is not bound between the covers of a book, GLF once again brings together multiple forms of narratives and story-telling – theatre, screenplay for feature films, documentary films, music, journalism, social media and even oraltraditions- all packed in the three days of fun with ideas, free thought and books.

“The focus this year in GLF is on taking humour seriously. The idea behind this is to bring forth the importance of laughter in everyday life and the ability to laugh at oneself and not merely at the expense of someone else,” says Samkit Shah, Festival Director of GLF. He added, sarcastic but witty and intelligent humor seems to be diminishing.

Laughter, comedy, satire etc are mediums to communicate some thought provoking ideas for the masses. Humour writers, performers, cartoonists, stand up comedians et al, from Gujarat and around the world, will explain the significance of this through their art and craft. They will candidly debate concerns the society faces, and of course make for an entertaining experience for the audience.

The event will kick-off with a never before pre-event put together by classical singer Vidya Rao, who will give soulful musical rendition of Gandhi Bhajans, Kabir Dohas and Thumri on the banks of River Sabarmati at the Sabarmati Ashram on December 14.

Thursday, December 15, will see several workshops on diverse subjects to let the festival also be a learning opportunity for all.

English_Schedule_4th Edition of Gujarat Literature Festival by DeshGujarat on Scribd

Highlights of GLF Season 4

· Bold discussion between some of India’s leading Gandhian and Sardar scholars about ‘Was Gandhi a Racist? or a Casteist?’ Or was there any injustice meted out to Sardar?

· For the first time: Prisoners from Sabarmati Jail, who have penned several poems and ghazals, will come to GLF and recite their poems on stage! This will be the first ‘Kavi Sammelan’ of the prisoners.

· Another contemporary issue is the portrayal of women and gender equations in mainstream cinema. Leading scriptwriters of Bollywood, including the writer of ‘Pink’ Ritesh Shah, will discuss this burning issue at GLF.

· It will be for the first time that a play will be premiered in a literary event. Acclaimed play director Aditi Desai’s new play ‘Dhad’ will premiere on December 18, at Thakore bhai Desai Hall with support of GLF.

· A brief curtain raiser of actor / director Manoj Joshi’s next play ‘Adpodara to America’ will also be performed for the first time at GLF.

· Bollywood song-writerIrs had Kamil’s band Waahz will give musical rendition to beautiful poetry written by Kamil himself.

· Chintan Naik’s group to perform ‘Akhana Chhappa’ – a contemporary rock and rap rendering of unique poems written by the 17th century poet from Ahmedabad Akho Bhagat.

· English best-selling author Ashwin Sanghi will retrace his creative journey in a candid conversation with city based author Raksha Bharadia.

· Founder of Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) Namita Gokhale will talk about her latest novel ‘Things to Leave Behind’.

· In a first in Gujarat, a group of people from Tamilnadu will talk about the 1,000 year old Gujarati spoken there – Sorashtri.

· A translation workshop will translate works of poet Ramesh Parekh into English and it will be published as a book eventually.

· Awards and prizes for upcoming writers will be announced.

– Communication