BOOKS BEYOND BOUNDARIES: Ruskin Bond will be the guest of honour and Aatish Taseer a participant

The grand ol’ man of Indian storytelling will be here on a cosy winter afternoon to take you back to your childhood. Ruskin Bond is the guest of honour at the next Kolkata Literary Meet, to be held from January 23 to 27, 2015, in association with The Telegraph. The creator of Rusty will inaugurate the fourth edition of KLM and also pen a special piece for the festival brochure, apart from speaking about his life and works. And his many quirks, we hope.

“It’s been nearly five years since I went to Calcutta,” the 80-year-old told Metro, when asked about KLM, adding that he was looking forward to “meeting readers and meeting children” at the festival. “It’s not like I am good at speeches or anything, but I can speak to them and answer questions I am asked,” he chuckled. For the record, Ruskin Bond is a hoot. And Ruskin Bond with a mike is a riot.

The lit meet had started out within the Calcutta Book Fair premises in 2012 and moved to the historic steps of Victoria Memorial Hall in 2014, which is likely to co-host the festival in 2015 as well. The organisers are at the moment stitching up the rest of the line-up.

One of the main themes will be memoirs. While her lips are mysteriously sealed about the man with the memoir of the moment — Sachin Tendulkar — festival director Malavika Banerjee confirmed the participation of Daman Singh, whose Strictly Personal is a daughter’s account of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan, American writer Joanna Rakoff (My Salinger Year), historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee (Nehru and Bose: Parallel Lives) and music composer Shantanu Moitra (On the Wings of Music).

There will be a number of sessions on Bengali literature and language — conducted in Bengali — and the names are being finalised, the organisers said. Among them, writers Bani Basu and Chandril Bhattacharya have agreed to pen a piece each for the festival brochure. Poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar will return to KLM with his translation of Rabindranath Tagore. He will also present a session with his translators.

The other big theme of KLM 2015 will be new writing in English. Participants include British-Bangladeshi writer Zia Rahman Haider (In The Light of What We Know, longlisted for Man Booker 2014), Indian-American writer Mira Jacob (The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing), the handsome Aatish Taseer, who is just out with The Way Things Were, and journalist and many-time KLM moderator Sandip Roy, who will be releasing his debut book of short stories in January.

THEY SAY IT WITH VERSE AND WORDS: Shubha Mudgal and Joanna Rakoff

There will also be a special session celebrating the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who passed away in April.

Keeping with its tradition of going beyond the written word to engage with thoughts, ideas and current events, KLM 2015 will host a special series of talks on Republic Day titled Understanding India, which will include veteran journalists Rajdeep Sardesai and Arun Shourie discussing the impact of the 2014 elections on the idea of India.

At other sessions, photographer Raghu Rai, artist Subodh Gupta and singer Shubha Mudgal will speak on art and classical music in India.

Evenings will give over to cultural performances. “We are planning a three-part programme to celebrate the life and achievements of Begum Akhtarm, whose centenary was celebrated last month. Shubha Mudgal will perform as part of this programme, which will also include a performance on the life and ghazals of the Mallika-e-Ghazal by the young classical vocalist Vidya Shah and performer Danish in the Dastangoi tradition of storytelling,” said Banerjee.

For updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/kolkatalitmeet