By Syed Hasan Zia Rizvi, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: In a press conference organized at Hotel Levana, Shamim A. Aarzoo, the founder and CEO of the Lucknow Society has announced that the 2nd edition of the ‘Lucknow Literary Festival’ will be organized on 1st – 2nd February 2014.
The first ever Lucknow Literary Festival on 23rd – 24th March 2013 was a big success and widely appreciated by everyone. Big cities like Jaipur and Delhi hosted literary festivals; Now city of literature and culture will witness the horde of litterateurs share and celebrate the joy of uniqueness in the city of Adab (Reverence).
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‘Munshi Newal Kishore’ will be the theme of this festival whose contribution to literature in 19th and 20th century is one of the largest in the continent. Munshi Newal Kishore Press was the first printing press of Lucknow and ‘Awadh Akbhar’ started in 1858 by Munshi Newal Kishore was the first newspaper from Lucknow ! Lav Bhargava, the Chairman of the Festival has announced that the festival will be an effort to bring forth the delight of various languages and the heritage of Lucknow.
Mr. Atif hanif Director of Marketing said, “ LLF will not give undue preference to English as well the soul of Lucknow’s literature Urdu and Hindi will also be promoted”.
The festival will witness the pool of novelists, playwrights, poets, screenwriters, journalists, lyricists, bloggers which usher in the revival of the city’s literary culture in 2 day festival. Books will be launched; contemporary and historical issues will be discussed and debated.
Through reading sessions the reader will rediscover the elation of books of Some of the prominent delegates who we are in process of finalising are Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Chetan Bhagat, Shobha De, Shashi Tharoor, Alka Pandey, Namita Gokhale, Naseeruddin Shah, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Milka Singh, Muzaffar Ali, Gopal Das Neeraj, Namwar Singh, K P Saxena, Rajendra Yadav, Bekal Utsahi, Waseem Bareilvi, Munawwar Rana, Sharib Rudaulvi, Prasoon Joshi, Mahesh Bhatt, Rosie Llewellyn Jones, etc.
Nirmal Darshan, the poet of Hindi – Urdu has taken charge as Director Programme and he has informed that authors of Hindi, Urdu and Awadhi from all over the country will be given prominence at the festival.
Authors can also contact at info@lucknowliteraryfestival.com till 31st October if they want to participate in the festival. Special focus on the involvement of the children will also be taken care of in the festival. There will also be an entertainment quotient to the festival which will highlight Lucknow through cultural events like Dastangoi, Qawwali, Ghazal Evening, Kavi-Sammelan & Mushaira,. Documentaries related with Lucknow and literature will also be screened at the festival. There will be events which showcase the city’s prosperous architectural heritage through photo exhibition, calligraphy and other arts and crafts of the city.
The world renowned ‘Zaika of Awadh’ will also be the quintessential ingredient in the culture cauldron of the city. It is an opportunity to bring in the traveler as well as the ‘literary tourist’ to Lucknow. 15 book launches, 25 sessions and workshops, 100 authors from the entire globe at three different auditorium of the Scientific Convention Centre, KGMU will promise the much – awaited 2nd edition of the ‘Lucknow Literary Festival’ to be a landmark in the literary and cultural calendar of Lucknow.
All updates of the festival will be available at on their website www.lucknowliteraryfestival.com and www.facebook.com/lucknow.me.
2nd edition of the special award ‘Pride of Lucknow’ will be another attraction of the festival. Mr Asif Ali Mirza from Kolkata, the direct descendant of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah has initiated ‘Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Award’ which will be presented during the literary festival. Anas Khan, Director Resources has concluded the objective of the festival as “Uttar Pradesh, in the land of Amir Khusru, Munshi Premchand, Asad Ullah Khan Ghalib, Meer Taqi Meer, Mir Anees, Raghupati Sahai Firaq Gorakhpuri, Asrar-ul Haq Majaz, Yashpal, Amrit Lal Nagar, Mirza Hadi Ruswa, Abdul Halim Sharar, Pandit Brij Narain Chakbast, Qurratulain Haider, Jigar Moradabadi and many others who gave us masterpieces and made epic contributions to literature to name a few.