In Kolkata, the month of January is a time for the celebration of literature and ideas, even in the midst of challenging times. Last year, owing to the pandemic, the tenth edition of Kolkata Literary Meet, or Kalam, as the organizers like to call it, was organized through online mediums. It had three days of books and live music on the KLM Facebook page and YouTube channel from January 29 to 31, 2021.
This year, as the beginning of the 11th edition of the Kolkata Literary Meet draws nearer, all literature lovers await with bated breath. The venue is the magical colonial architectural marvel of the city, Victoria Memorial. Sponsored by The Ministry of Culture and Tata Steel, the event will be inaugurated on 27th January 2023. The inauguration ceremony will be conducted by renowned writers Mani Sankar Mukherjee(India) and Joanne Harris(UK) at the Son-Et-Lumiere, Victoria Memorial. The following event of the day includes a conversation with Anit Mukherjee and Krishnan Srinivasan on the armed forces and government, conducted by Manoj Mohanka. Some of the other events of the day include a film screening session, a conversation with British mystery crime writer Ann Cleeves on her recipe for creating a super sleuth, a conversation with Shashi Tharoor and Sudeep Chakravarti about colonialism, Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Manu Pillai about the representation of India in literature, and many such exciting and enriching events. The day’s program will end with a play by Kheyali Dastidar featuring stalwarts of the Bengali cinematic and theatre universe.
The main literature festival and events of the Kolkata Literary Meet will be held from 22nd-27th March 2023. It will involve many academics, intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and visual artists coming together and creating dialogues and performances around literature, films, music, theatre, and politics. The finale of Kalam will include a classical sitar recital by Ustad Shujaat Khan.
Save the dates and bookmark the events you would want to attend. It will certainly be a spectacle worth witnessing.
You can find out more about Kolkata Literary Meet 2023 as well as a more detailed event schedule here.