Every year in the last week of January, Hyderabad hosts its own literary festival, a variegated celebration of books, cinema, art, theatre, poetry...in short, all things cultural. But not just cultural. There’s also a good dose of environment, civic discourse, and of course, street food and Irani chai. This year, though, the festival will be online, and while we will of course miss the charm of sitting under the trees and spending three days basking in the pleasures of literature and the imagination, the show will go on. In this special episode of Reading for Our Times, I speak with the four directors of the Hyderabad Literary Festival about the 2021 iteration—the challenges it brings, and the promise it still has to create “social togetherness” not just for those in the city, but everywhere on the Internet where there is a love of culture.
For more information on HLF2021, visit the website: www.hydlitfest.org and follow the festival on YouTube over the three days of the festival (January 22-24) and beyond!
Hyderabad Literary Festival 2021: Behind the Scenes