Three Ambassadors Walks into a Book Fest — no, this is not the opening line of a rib-tickler, it is one of the segments of this year’s Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF). The 13th edition of BLF, the two-day event will see the participation of as many as 350 Indian, global and city authors and speakers, cutting across diverse genres, languages and topics.

For instance, the above mentioned segment includes the Dominican Republic Ambassador to India David Puig, Ambassador of Spain in India, Juan Antonio March, and Australian High Commissioner to India, Philip Green. “David Puig is a humorous poet with a keen interest in astrology,” says Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, one of the founders of BLF.

“Bangalore is so far removed from Delhi and diplomatic circles, we don’t see too many international diplomats interacting with residents. There is usually just a small consulate and not a full-fledged embassy office here, hence, we rarely get to see them at social events, unlike at the capital. We invited them as speakers as we thought that apart from their writings, audiences would enjoy listening to the other side of those who live public lives,” he added.

This year’s lineup of authors at BLF includes two Nobel laureates — economist Abhijit Banerjee and Venki Ramakrishnan. “Surprisingly, Abhijit is our guest because of the cookbook he has penned, and though Venki’s field is chemistry, his book Why We Die: And How We Live, is on the science of longevity and mortality. Considering how much effort and capital we put into working out how we can live longer, his will be an interesting talk.”

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of Dust Child, is one of the speakers at BLF 2024 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

While the BLF is usually not structured around a theme, an emerging thread for this year’s edition seems to be science and science writing, says Srikrishna, adding, “It is great for a city such as Bangalore considering the many science and research institutes that have a base here.”

Two of the speakers in this segment include Simon Singh, author of The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets and Anil Ananthaswamy of Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI fame, while Bengaluru-based Lavanya Lakshminarayan is an author from the science fiction section.

Being a literature festival, there are bound to be writers of fiction as well as translated works, in the mix. According to Srikrishna, Kannada and Malayalam authors are at the forefront this year as well as a few Oriya and Gujarati writers, “who are a rarity in Bangalore which usually sees Hindi and Urdu works take prominence.”

“We have found that translations are becoming quite popular as they make Indian works much more accessible,” he adds. The Malayalam writers at this year’s BLF include M Mukundan, KR Meera, Sheela Tomy, AJ Thomas, VJ James and Sandhya Mary, as well as Gujarati novelist Devangi Bhatt and Odia writer Manu Dash.

In keeping with the city’s image of being an IT hub and a space for start-ups, authors and speakers from the world of business, finance and education will be present as will be those who have written on cricket and the movie world, says Srikrishna.

“This year, there are three people in social development space who have had books come out — R Balasubramaniam from rural Karnataka, activist Aruna Roy and Jack Sim a.k.a Mr. Toilet from Singapore, who is working for the cause of global sanitation. All three are engaging speakers.”

Ed Smith, author of Making Decisions, is one of the speakers at BLF 2024 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Queer Caravan, conceptualised by The Queer Muslim Project in partnership with the Goethe-Institut and the French Institute in India, “bring together storytellers and artists from France, Germany, and India who hail from the LGBTQIA+ community” to this edition of BLF. “This initiative gives those voices a platform and fosters cross-cultural dialogue.”

As always, there will be LitMart and ScreenLit for aspiring authors and screenwriters, as well as a special section for children, which will have workshops, magic shows, theatre and storytelling, apart from sessions on sustainability as well. Both days of the festival will have their share of cultural performances.

“Though bookstores have their own charm, a lot of purchasing happens online apart from the interest in ebooks and audiobooks. That is why we thought it would be an interesting partnership,” says Srikrishna, talking about BLF’s collaboration with a popular online delivery merchant this year.

This year too, there will be free shuttle buses from Vidhan Soudha metro station to the venue at regular intervals, apart from a paid parking facility at Prestige Trade Tower (next to Sophia High School) along with a shuttle service from there to the venue.

The Bangalore Literature Festival is part of BLR Hubba and is from 9am to 7.30pm on December 14 and 15, at Hotel LaLiT Ashok. Entry free, but registration is recommended. Details at www.blrlitfest.org

Namita Gokhale, author of Life in Mars – Collected Short Stories (TBP), is one of the speakers at BLF 2024 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement