Literature is a lonely pursuit — for the writer and the reader — performed best in reclusive retreat. So, a festival of literature is a rare opportunity to break the shell of solitude.

Those who eat, sleep and breathe the written word will be gifted this rare opportunity at the two-day Tathagat Patna Literature Festival beginning March 23.

The art, culture and youth affairs department, along with Navras School of Performing Arts, will host the event as part of the Bihar Divas festival this year.

“Such an event was last organised in Patna in 1926. The purpose for the festival this year is to introduce the youth to the cultural heritage of the state,” said Aradhana Pradhan, founder-director of the festival on Thursday.

More than 40 writers, journalists and activists will attend 15 sessions over two days, debating and discussing literature, culture and the arts. Poet, lyricist and director Gulzar would chair a number of these sessions.

Some of the famous writers who are likely to attend the meet are novelist and translator Pawan Kumar Verma, historian Gyan Prakash, former Hindustan editor Mrinal Pandey, poet Alok Dhawan, writer of children’s books Subhadra Sen Gupta. Pakistani poet Fahmida Riaz, along with a few of her compatriots, has also been invited to festival.

“Most of the writers will be from the state. The festival will also focus on languages like Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magahi,” said Aradhana.

Taking a leaf out of the Jaipur Literature Festival, the organisers have also invited cinema actors and Bollywood personalities to add shine to the event. Some of the well-known faces you might catch at the meet are Chandraprakash Dwivedi, director Sudhir Mishra, Tigmanshu Dhulia (the villainous Ramadhir Singh in Gangs of Wasseypur) and Vishal Bharadwaj.

The focus of the session would be recent films set in the Hindi heartland like Gangs of Wasseypur.

“Many directors are focusing on Hindi heartland (Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh). The audience at the session will get an insight into why directors are choosing this subject,” said Satyanand Nirupam, the creative director of the festival.

Those who find it difficult to negotiate rhyming lines and long passages of prose could also turn up at the festival for other sources of entertainment. Music, dance and theatre shows have been organsied to keep them occupied.