Ahsan Akbar is a poet and a director of Dhaka Lit Fest. His poetry collection, The Devil's Thumbprint, was published by Bengal Lights Books in 2013.
What are you reading right now?
Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif.
And I just finished reading Last and First Men by Johann Jóhannsson, which is magnificent.
Who did you nearly confirm for this year's festival?
Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ismail Kadare.
Who would be your five dream writers for a future edition of DLF?
Mario Vargas Llosa, Milan Kundera, Kazuo Ishiguro, Toni Morrison, Martin Amis.
Describe this year's festival in three words.
Fun. Inspiring. Provocative.
How, if at all, is DLF changing the perception of Bangladesh around the world?
Bangladesh is now a positive topic of discussion in various international circles where we were largely non-existent in the past, except maybe for natural calamities. Along with the other festivals, we are not only connecting with our deep roots in art, literature and music, we are definitely changing the way we are viewed as a nation around the world.
Share a memorable event from a past edition of DLF.
Birdwatching with VS Naipaul at Jahangirnagar University.
Share a nerve-wracking moment from a past edition of DLF.
19 writers from the UK and US cancelling their participation during the run up to our 2015 edition because of the blogger killings in Bangladesh.
What excites you most about the festival?
-The energy and enthusiasm of the youth who attend our festival in large numbers, and last year we exceeded 25,000 over three days;
-The occasional possibility of a relatively unknown or “non-marquee” panel becoming a much talked-about session in the programme.
Is there anything that makes DLF distinct from all other festivals?
I attend festivals in the UK and the average price we pay per session is between 15 and 25 pounds, which can add up to a lot i.e., 4-5 sessions per day over 3 days can rack up a ticket bill of approximately 30,000 takas.
Last month I had the opportunity to attend the New Yorker Festival, where the tickets were priced at 79 dollars per session. Most literary festivals charge per session, and it’s only a few that keep it free. We believe in the latter model and in spite of budgetary constraints, we have been adamant to keep it free and open for all.
We are unique in having an equally large presence of our own language in the programme. Our efforts to promote translations and tackle difficult topics head-on have gained us a certain credibility which also makes our programming easier now than it was 6 or 7 years ago.
What advice would you give to anyone wishing to curate literary festivals of this calibre?
To have a large appetite for everything, except sleep.