The curtain rises on Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF), Bangladesh's biggest event on world literature and culture, on Thursday, with around 500 writers, poets, performers, intellectuals, journalists and internationally acclaimed prize-winning speakers taking part in over 170 sessions of the four-day event.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid, Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Indian writer and literary critic Amitav Ghosh will inaugurate the tenth edition of the DLF at Bangla Academy's Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Auditorium at 10am.
CourtesyThe event remained suspended for three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ninth DLF was held in November 2019.
Organizers say the historic Bangla Academy premises will become more vibrant due to the presence of eminent personalities from five continents, including Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah.
The event will feature winners of the Pulitzer, International Booker, Neustadt International, PEN/Pinter, Prix Médicis, Academy Award, Windham-Campbell Prize, Albert Medal, Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and Aga Khan Award.
This event features with conversations, dialogues, film screenings, art exhibitions, music, cultural shows and much more.
This year the event promises star quality as Abdulrazak Gurnah makes his first appearance at an international event since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, one of the directors of DLF Director Ahsan Akbar said.
CourtesyThe popularity of lit fests are a recent phenomenon in Dhaka. “However, now everyone knows and are curious for upcoming Lit Fests. As always, the event will become a meeting place for national and foreign literary, thinkers, writers, journalists, and poets,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Director Kazi Anis Ahmed has said the satisfaction of organizing the literary event outweighs all the challenges it entails.
“We are able to bring writers from the major economies of the world to Bangladesh. Our readers and authors get a chance to observe them, hear them talk. We connect with those readers as well. There can be nothing better for those of us who love stories, literature and the intellectual world,” he added.
The directors of DLF announced its first list of 25 speakers out of over 200 speakers expected to attend the 2023 edition.
The first list included Orhan Pamuk, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Nuruddin Farah, Amitav Ghosh, Hanif Kureishi, Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Pankaj Mishra, Tilda Swinton, Jon Lee Anderson, Onjali Rauf, Sarah Churchwell, Gitanjali Shree, Daisy Rockwell, Esther Freud, Matthieu Aikins, Alexandra Pringle, Andrey Kurkov, Asma Khan, Dame Sarah Gilbert, Anisul Hoque, MashrurArefin, Jaya Ahsan, Kamal Naser Chowdhury, Zafar Iqbal and Marina Tabassum.
CourtesySadaf Saaz, one of the three directors of DLF, said that the event could have been even grander had there not been budget issues.
Sadaf said: “Some 175 events will be held this time. A lot of misinformation spread during the Covid-19 pandemic. We learned the importance of science and information. We have tried to emphasize that evidence is very important. We will express this knowledge not only through our lives but also through films.”
For the first time, the DLF has introduced a ticket system this time. Tickets can be purchased through online payment. They can also be found in a few specific places.
CourtesyAccording to the organizers, only children up to 12 years of age will not need any ticket to enter.
People can complete their registration by clicking this link or visiting the event website (www.dhakalitfest.com) by entering their name, age, gender, occupation, mobile number, and email. After entering all the information correctly, they can select their ticket category.
Meanwhile, there is good news for students. They can buy tickets for Tk200 each. If the students buy tickets for four days together, it will cost them Tk500.
A four-day VIP ticket will be available for Tk10,000. Free parking facility and access to the DLF special lounge with a VIP ID card (including lunch) will be available under the patron category.
