With its themes expanding the horizons to fields of science, mathematics, journalism and the arts, Hay Festival Dhaka, the first international literature festival of Bangladesh, is all set to take off tomorrow.
Now in its fourth year, the festival will feature artists and thinkers from as many as 13 countries and hold more than 70 sessions over the course of three days, beginning tomorrow morning.
“We know of the rich heritage of Bangla literature, but we have not been able to carry to the world the beauty we experience in reading Bangla literature,” festival adviser Kazi Anis Ahmed said during a press conference held yesterday.
“From Tolstoy to Haruki Murakami, Kafka to Orhan Pamuk, we are experiencing world literature at its best. So why should we not hold up our literary heritage for the world to see and experience? In order to do that, we need to have an exchange with the rest of the world,” he said.
In this spirit of exchanging Bangladeshi literature, language and heritage with the rest of the world, this year’s Hay Festival Dhaka is bringing speakers who come from varying backgrounds including journalism, politics, science, academia, publishing and many more.
There are panels focusing on science and literature, mathematics, journalism, the supernatural, the mystic – and many more, and have the potential to serve a wide range of audience.
“Some of the most important faces of Bangla literature such as Michael Madhusudan Dutt to Rabindranath Tagore, to more recent writers such as Shamsur Rahman and Syed Huq – they all share one thing: they defied tradition, they did something new,” Anis said during the conference.
“We believe there is magnitude and breadth in people’s thoughts and expressions, and when new things happen, they must be given a chance.”
And the festival is doing just that – giving chance to a new form of literature, providing a platform for an intersection between literature and science, history, culture, mysticism and literature through sessions focusing on issues such as lost languages, radio show on horror stories, Bangla rap and many more.
The festival will be held on the ground of Bangla Academy and will have various sessions each day from morning till the evening.
Directed by Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi and Tahmima Anam, the event is Platinum-sponsored by KK Tea.