1:45AM – 12:45PM
WOW BITES | Main Stage
A range of women from different professions tell their stories through a gender lens. Featuring businesswoman Rubana Huq, the first Bangladeshi woman to climb Mount Everest, Nishat Majumdar and journalist Munni Saha. In conversation with Jude Kelly.
A WOW – Women of the World festival talk.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE SNAKE GODDESS
Bhasha Stage
Launch of Kaiser Haq’s book published by Harvard University Press, a composite of 14th-19th century texts from the Manasa Mangal (Padma Puran), of the legend of Manasa, the Serpent Goddess—the female power looking over Bengal and beyond. Haq will be in conversation with cultural activist Lubna Marium, who has done extensive work with folk traditions venerating Manasa, folk expert and academic Syed Jamil Ahmed and academic Rosinka Chaudhuri.
A MULTIVERSE OF IDEAS | KK Tea Stage
Celebrated Cuban science fiction writer and rock star Yoss, broadcaster and novelist Marcel Theroux and novelist Ranbir Sidhu discuss alternate worlds and thoughts with Bangladeshi novelist Saad Z Hossain.
MYSTICAL DIMENSIONS | Lawn
Poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, writer Farrukh Dhondy and scholar Patrick Laude, discuss the philosophy and essence of the mystical poetry of the greats—Rumi, Kabir, Hafez and others.
2:15PM – 3:15PM
LIBRARY OF BANGLADESH | Main Stage
This session marks the launch of Dhaka Translation Center’s landmark Library of Bangladesh, a first-ever series of the best of Bangladeshi writing produced for a world audience. The inaugural batch will release works by Hasan Azizul Huq and Syed Shamsul Haq. Series editor and award-winning translator Arunava Sinha will be in conversation with translator Bhaskar Chattopadhyay. The unveiling will also feature a few of the authors, DTC founder,
K Anis Ahmed and director Kaiser Haq on stage.
SEX WORKERS OR PROSTITUTED WOMEN? | Bhasha Stage
A lively discussion between global feminist campaigner Ruchira Gupta, and member of Bangladeshi women’s activist group Naripokkho, Firdous Azim, exploring issues surrounding the sex trade.
3:00PM – 4:00PM
UNPLUGGED | Bardhaman House
Presented by singer-songwriter Armeen Musa.
3:30PM – 4:45PM
THE MARCH TO INDEPENDENCE | Main Stage
This session will mark the launch of Rehman Sobhan’s memoir Untranquil Recollections: The Years of Fulfilment by Sage Publications, which covers the birth of the nationalist movement, how it developed into the freedom struggle, and eventually the Liberation War. As an influential teacher at Dhaka University, close adviser and confidante to Bangabandhu, and executive editor of Forum magazine, Rehman Sobhan will share his bird’s eye view of those seminal years, with renowned lawyer Kamal Hossain, noted Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir and Daily Star publisher and editor Mahfuz Anam.
5:00PM – 6:00PM
NEVER A DULL DE | Main Stage
Legendary opinion maker Shobhaa De talks to Antara Ganguli about a lifetime as one of India’s most outspoken independent voices.
CAN SOUTH ASIA BE A POWER BLOC? | Cosmic Tent
What is it about South Asia that still holds back both more feisty growth and further integration? Can this region ever shake off its sluggishness and become a real world-beating regional bloc? Three top journalists, based out of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, take a hard look at the region’s realities. Featuring Victor Mallet, Fasih Ahmed and Zafar Sobhan. Moderated by Ashiqur Rahman.
OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE | KK Tea Stage
Four women carving out new cultural spaces with a global vision discuss the challenges and the thrilling compulsion of such undertakings with Jude Kelly of UK’s Southbank Centre, Muthoni Garland, founder of Kenya’s Storymoja festival, Meike Ziervogel, founder and publisher of Peirene Press, and Sadaf Saaz, director and producer of Dhaka Lit Fest. Moderated by Kelly Falconer, founder of Asia Literary Agency.
* Program is subject to changes