What’s new is a misleading question in the world of books. Jane Austen is fresh for every young reader who embarks on Emma, and Mahasweta Devi will seem relevant and prophetic to readers who might be discovering her stories today. The Exide Kolkata Literary Meet will be welcoming much-loved authors like Amitav Ghosh, who returns with a novel after almost a decade. Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai are back after 12 and nine years, respectively. And we have Javed Akhtar, Devdutt Pattanaik, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Durjoy Datta, Srijato, Chandril, Anupam Roy, Kunal Basu and several other friends of the festival who return in new avatars, with new books and ideas almost every year.
The festival remains free and open to all, with no passes needed for events at the Alipore Museum. And to answer the eternal “what’s new” question, there are indeed a few debuts at KaLaM this year, who merit an introduction in our traditional A to Z overview.
(From left) Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Rupam Islam and Shobha De
Alipore Museum: History is the soul sister of literature, and in a space as suffused with stories of our freedom struggle as a former colonial prison, the entire festival is underpinned by an appreciation of how hard-won our freedoms are. We are delighted and honoured to be starting a new chapter here. Our four venues in this iconic museum are KaLaM Lawns, KaLaM Hub, the Auditorium and the Courtyard near the Watchtower.
Barbara Kingsolver: Arguably, America’s foremost literary voice at the moment, it is a humbling honour to have the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner speak about her wonderful Demon Copperhead, and her concerns about biodiversity and sustainability alongside Amitav Ghosh. She will also speak at a trans-generational session alongside her daughter, Lily. This is her first literature festival appearance in India.
Chandaa Bedni: Winner of four META Awards (the Filmfare award of theatre), this Hindi play from Rangakarmee features the young and wonderful Ranjini Ghosh who won best actress. A must-watch for all those who crave quality theatre in the city.
De: Shobhaa De will be debuting at the festival and we are delighted to have her speak on her columns, and what worries and inspires her about the world and India.
Ekok: A whole generation, perhaps two, have grown up on Rupam Islam’s songs and concerts. A solo performance on Saraswati Puja evening will be a great way to sign off on Calcutta’s Valentine’s Day!
Food Funda: Rujuta Diwekar will speak about eating local, the wisdom in India’s traditional platter and the eternal question of losing weight.
Rujuta Diwekar, Piyush Mishra and Viswanathan Anand
Geoff Dyer: One of the most moving essayists right from his writings on D.H. Lawrence to his meditations on ageing, Dyer will be speaking about writing on his travels (alongside Ananya Vajpeyi) as well as on his memoirs.
Heart Lamp: It took global recognition in the form of a Booker International for the rest of India to recognise the power and importance of Banu Mushtaq’s writings. Darkly funny, bitter, broken but always resilient, the women in Heart Lamp are characters who jump off the pages to stay with the reader after the last story is read. Mushtaq will also be inaugurating the festival alongside Barbara Kingsolver.
Ivermee: The French historian Robert Ivermee will speak about France’s colonial fortunes and misfortunes in a discussion on his recent book Glorious Failure.
Jane Austen @250: It is a universally acknowledged fact that Austen continues to find new readers, inspires writers born more than two centuries after her, and remains a favourite for film adaptations. Graphic storyteller Kate Evans will present her illustrated Austen biography Patchwork, and an installation by Evans will be on display at the festival venue.
Komal Gandhar: One of the fistful of masterpieces left by the great Ritwik Ghatak, the film and other classics of his body of work will be discussed across two sessions.
Lucy Hannah: An activist, a chronicler, and enabler, Lucy Hannah will speak about her experiences of working with women who fled Kabul after the return of the Taliban. One of the women who contributed to the anthology My Dear Kabul will be joining the session virtually for the session.
Mahidadur Antidote: Dipanwita Roy will speak about her delightful Bal Sahitya Puraskar winning novel at the Junior Kolkata Literary Meet.
Nalini Bera: The Ananda Puraskar awardee will be speaking about Subarnarenu, Subarnarekha and Hansda Sowrendra Shekhar’s translation Gold Sand, Gold Water.
Oirabot Ar Dragon Master: Anupam Roy has been a festival favourite from our first year, straddling several genres from poetry to musical performances. He now debuts in our Junior Kolkata Literary Meet with his book for young readers.
Piyush Mishra: Actor, singer, stage veteran — he will be speaking about his book Tumhari Auqaat Kya Hai with Mir.
Queen: Sandip Roy’s beautifully penned biography on Chapal Bhaduri, the last queen of Bengali theatre will be launched at the festival.
Rana Dasgupta: A writer who has enthralled us with his look at Delhi in Capital, and with his novels Tokyo Cancelled and Solo now returns with After Nations.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur: He has been synonymous with the restoration of film classics, reopening single screens and making Indians embrace film history over the past decade. He is fresh from presenting a restored In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones at Berlin and will speak about the newly-released Sholay which has a new ending, and the magic melancholy of Guru Dutt.
Tamhane: Marathi filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane, who has wooed the world with his contemporary masterpiece Court and has since been mentored by Alfonso Cuaron, will speak about his cinema in the ‘Focus on Maharashtra’ strand of the festival.
Uma Das Gupta: A revered and loved academic, her deep research on Santiniketan and the resultant book The History of Santiniketan will feature in the festival through a conversation with R. Siva Kumar.
Viswanathan Anand: One of India’s great heroes on the chess board and off it, the champion comes with some handy life lessons for young and old alike.
Walk Like A Girl: Prabal Gurung has not yet had a fashion show in India, but has blazed a trail across fashion runways of the world. From Michelle Obama to Diljit Dosanjh, he bring with him designs and life mantras from New York.
XXV: 2026 marks the end of the first quarter of this century, a recurring theme through sessions of authors Kiran Desai and Jhumpa Lahiri, who come together for the first time in a conversation that examines how the world and indeed literature has changed in the period between Y2K and ChatGPT.
Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye…: Guru Dutt mirrored the anxiety and concerns of a generation that saw many of their pre-1947 hopes falter within a decade. Two of his biographers, Nasreen Munni Kabir and Sathya Saran will discuss the great, troubled filmmaker who gave Hindi cinema some of its greatest films, music and
stories.
Zwigato: Nandita Das’s film on delivery agents will combine with Vandana Vasudevan’s OTP, Please to instigate a deep dive into the ramifications of online retail, the habit of ordering in and the resulting gig economy.
The writer is curator-director, The Exide Kolkata Literary Meet