DAY 1 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | INAUGURAL CEREMONY| Main Stage
12:30 – 1:00 PM | MUSIC: MEHEDI HASAN NIL AND FRIENDS| Lawn
12:30 – 2:00 PM | FILM SCREENING: BHALOBASHAR SHOHOR | Cosmic Tent
1:00 – 2:00 PM | WORLD FICTION: HIDDEN REALITIES | Main Stage
Daniel Hahn with Nicholas Lezard, Anjum Hasan, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Nael Eltoukhy and Amy Sackville
Authors, reviewers and translators from West and East discuss the latest trends in global fiction.
1:00 – 2:00 PM | IMAGINING HISTORY| KK Tea Stage
Shazia Omar and Bappaditya Chakravarty with Saad Z Hossain
Saad Z Hossain, internationally published novelist, will ask his peers why they turned to the historical, and why those particular periods?
1:00 – 2:00 PM | ENGLISH POETRY RECITATIONS | Lawn
Steven Fowler, Maqsoodul Haque, Carles Torner
2:15 – 3:15 PM | AMERICA: EXCEPTIONAL NO MORE | Main Stage
Barkha Dutt, Jeffrey Yang, Ben Judah, Marcia Lynx Qualey, and Kazi Nabil Ahmed with Sriram Karri
2:15 – 3:15 PM | AN INTIMATE ARCHITECTURE: THE NEUROSCIENCE OF AESTHETICS| KK Tea Stage
Juhani Pallasmaa and Abed Chaudhury with Kazi K Ashraf
Renowned Finnish architect and architectural thinker Juhani Pallasmaa discusses how architecture is a mediation between the world and ourselves.
2:15 – 3:15 PM | SHAMPRODAYIKOTAR E PAR O PAR: COMMUNALISM ACROSS THE BORDER | Lawn
Shamsuzzaman Khan, Jahar Sen Majumdar, Sajjad Sharif, Semanti Ghosh with Ahmed Reza
1:45 – 2:45 PM | CRIME PAYS – THE ART OF SUSPENSE | BRAC Stage
Anthony McGowan, the writer of two literary thrillers, Leonora Christina Skov, a Danish contemporary thriller writer, and author of Acts of the Assassins, Richard Beard, talk to literary agent Kelly Falconer about what draws them to this genre.
3:30 – 4:30 PM | BISHAD SHINDHU: AN OCEAN OF SORROW | Main Stage
The session marks the publication of Fakrul Alam’s translation of the epic Bishad Shindhu (An Ocean of Sorrow) with Fakrul Alam, writer Syed Manzoorul Islam and director of the EMK Center, MK Aaref.
3:30 – 4:30 PM | GRANTA: TRUTH AND LIES | KK Tea Stage
Amy Sackville, Alex Preston and Evie Wyld with Karthika VK
3:30 – 4:30 PM | Poetry of transitions | Lawn
3:30 – 4:30 PM | TANYA TANIA | BRAC Stage
Antara Ganguli with Iresh Zaker
Marking the launch of Ganguli's debut novel Tanya Tania.
3:30 – 4:30 PM | FILM SCREENING: THE STRANGE LUCK OF VS NAIPAUL | Cosmic Tent
This rare BBC documentary on one of the greatest living writers, Nobel Prize-winning VS Naipaul, follows his exceptional journey from Trinidad to his ultimate home in Wiltshire.
3:30 – 4:30 PM | ABRITI PORISHOD: FOUR POETS REMEMBERED | Bottola
Vaswar Bannerji, Ashraful Alam, Laila Afroz, Dalia Ahmed, Naila Kakoly, Mahidul Islam, Rafiqul Islam, Md. Ahkam Ullah Dr. Rupa Chatterji, Golam Sarwar. Moderated by Dr. Bilkis Rahman.
4:45 – 5:45 PM | THIS UNQUIET LAND | Main Stage
Barkha Dutt with Sadaf Saaz
Barkha Dutt, one of India’s most prominent and fearless journalists and television anchors, talks with DLF director Sadaf Saaz.
4:45 – 5:45 PM | JOURNEYS AND QUESTS IN TRUTH | KK Tea Stage
Tim Cope, Sadia Dehlvi, Simon Broughton with Tshering Tashi
These modern day adventurers discuss their passions with Tshering Tashi, who himself is from a country which is discovering its way in the world.
4:45 – 5:45 PM | BRAC POPULAR THEATRE | Lawn
Traditional folk music merges with powerful narratives of tolerance, humanism and grassroots empowerment in the play Bondhon, by Onirban Gononatok Dol from Gazipur.
4:45 – 5:45 PM | AMERICANA | BRAC Stage
In the tumultuous age of Trump, two American poets, Vijay Seshadri and Jeffrey Yang, discuss their changing homeland with Eddin Khoo.
4:45 – 5:45 PM | RICHARD BEARD’S EDITING WORKSHOP | Cosmic Tent
6:15 – 7:30 PM | SYED SHAMSUL HAQ: A LIFE REMEMBERED | Main Stage
Ditio Syed Haq, Sajjad Sharif, and Ahmed Mazhar with Parvez Hossain
A panel to remember and honor the revered poet and writer who passed away so recently. Includes a staged enactment of Haq’s short novel Neel Dongshon, one of the great classics of modern Bangladeshi literature. Directed by Naila Azad, featuring, Aref Syed and Ariq Anam Khan.
6:15 – 7:30 PM | BAULIANA CARAVAN | Bottola
A snapshot of the ‘original culture’ of Bangladesh. Baul practitioners of different generations, both male and female, will sing songs based on their egalitarian philosophies. Musician Maqsoodul Haque will talk us through the Baul tradition, conveying the mystery of their practices for an urban sensibility.
