Oxford Bookstores and Apeejay Surrendra Group announced the 11th edition of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival from 17th-19th January 2020.

Hosted on Park Street, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival or AKLF, is the first international literary festival in Kolkata and Eastern India, is a not for profit initiative, is free for everyone, and continues to be since its inception in 2010 – the only Literary Festival organized by a Bookstore.

Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2020 will focus on Nationalism and Identity, Homeland, Belonging. Nine sessions are dedicated to the various aspects of Women Empowerment, Pride, Climate Change, Art and Protests, dissent, democracy- the relevant and disturbing issues of the day have occupied space in the programme.

Major Sessions at the festival:

Day 1: The inaugural session on Forgotten Treasures with William Dalrymple presenting his new book Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company, followed by a conversation with Jawhar Sircar; a special session on what today’s youth want to read with Vivaan Shah, Kavita Kane, Karuna Ezara Parikh and Jimmy Tangree; In a New Light: Revisiting Dara Shukoh, Sri Chaitanya and Veer Savarkar with Vikram Sampath, Avik Chanda, Chitrita Banerji and Oindrilla Dutt; a session on the issues we all are grappling with at present Homelands: Identity, nationalism and belonging with Samrat Chowdhury, Bronwyn Fredericks, Carlo Pizzati, Saira Shah Halim and Saaz Aggarwal; Aparna Sen discusses her latest film Ghawre Bairey Today – contemporizing the classic with much loved Piya Chakraborty and Samik Bandyopadhyay and Modhurima Sinha; Tribute to Late Nabaneeta Dev Sen with Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sen, Samik Bandyopadhyay and her daughters Antara Dev Sen & Nandana Dev Sen; Stories of Individual Vs State cases and struggles – David vs Goliath with Jawhar Sircar, Lal Bhatia, Sumona Chakravarty and Jael Silliman.

Day 2: Second day starts with a stimulating discussion on ‘Reading as Empowerment’ with the event ABC Go! with Bulbul Sharma, Savvy Soumya Misra, Kaveree Bamzai and Devi Kar, followed by a book launch of Beyond Charity by Savvy Soumya Misra; Regret to Redemption? Rajat Gupta with his tell-all memoir in conversation with Kaveree Bamzai; Reigning Supreme? Interrogating the judiciary with legal eagle Abhinav Chandrachud, Arunava Ghosh in conversation with human rights lawyer Debjyoti Ghosh. Bringing in a different flavor to the programme will be special Adda sessions like Pride and Prejudice – experiences and perspectives across the Pride Rainbow spectrum. Pawan Dhall, Anuradha Bhagwati, Sangeeta Dutta, Jhimli M Pandey, Debjyoti Ghosh and Sandip Roy; Sing my Beloved Country: Usha Uthup on how music celebrates a multicultural India in conversation with Bachi Karkaria; A exceptional session Metamorphosis: The journey from book to screen with Bachi Karkaria, Prayaag Akbar, Saurabh Shukla, Anand Neelakantan and Raju Raman; Orient

Express: French author Irene Frain discusses her connections with the Orient with Christine Cornet followed by the launch of the new Alliance Francaise space. With Institut Francais. This year Oxford Junior Literary Festival will witness True Crime Stories from the files with Subrata Biswas ex Zonal Director of NCB for the Eastern Region and actor & writer Vivaan Shah.

Day 3: The last day will witness the eternal appeal of romance with Preeti Shenoy, Lisa Heidke and Milee Ashwarya; a captivating session on Dissent and Democracy with Abhinav Chandrachud, Prayaag Akbar, Ruchir Joshi, Anuradha Bhagwati, Kaushik Sen and Sharmistha Goswami Chatterjee. The Adda session of the day will be Northeast India and Questions of Belonging with Manogya Loiwal, Samrat, Prajwal Parajuly, Bijoya Sawian and Sabah Al-Ahmed; a specially curated session on the inner workings of the publishing world from the bosses in The Last Word: Publishing and the Woman Boss with the distinguished publishers Karthika V K, Preeti Vyas, Milee Ashwarya, Niti Kumar with Anjum Katyal; the most anticipated conversation of the day with the international bestselling author Francesc Miralles and his famous book ‘IKIGAI — The Japanese Secret to a Long Happy Life’, a book that touches on the various aspects of life based on ancient, well-practised Japanese technique called IKIGAI. The festival closes with a flourish with ‘Many Sides of Saurabh Shukla’: Actor, Screenwriter and Playwright in conversation with Vinay Sharma.

Beside the diverse sessions, conversations and discussions the festival will –

 Announce the short list of the hugely appreciated Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize to recognize book cover design and designers in association with The Jaipur Literature Festival,

 The second edition of the Prabha Khaitan Woman’s Voice Award in association with Oxford Bookstore, to recognize fresh voices in women’s writings from India.

 Oxford Junior Literary Festival (OJLF) will host for young readers with dramatised readings, storytelling, dance workshops, wildlife filmmaking and more.

 The AKLF Adda invites you to be part of lively discussions on Pride and prejudice, the insider/outsider issue in the North East, and the impact of climate change.

 Poetry Cafe will host the best of the city poets, and a riveting performance of protest poetry by Keith Jarrett of the UK. Cafe Litteraire celebrates our connections with French literature and culture.