The 14th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival started strong on Saturday, with a keynote speech by International Booker Prize winner and veteran Kannada author Banu Mushtaq.
Delivering her speech, titled Being Banu, Being Bandaya, Mushtaq gave a poetic account of her life and philosophy of writing. She said, “Being Bandaya feels like standing in front of a mirror that reflects not just one woman, but an entire lineage of writers who refused to be silent, and an entire geography of struggle and tenderness….It is not a label, but an inheritance, a responsibility, a fire that refuses to go out.”
Bandaya is a progressive literary movement in Kannada that began in the 1970s.
Mushtaq, who is also a practising lawyer, said, “My words were not shaped by comfort. They were shaped by courtrooms, cross-examinations, and contradictions. They were shaped by the people who walked into my chamber not just with cases, but with defeats, dreams, and dignity.”
In a subsequent interaction with Prateeti Ballal, who moderated the first panel, Mushtaq recalled her early years and the multiple languages she was exposed to, starting out as a native Dakhni speaker and discovering a love for Kannada in school.
Another crowd-puller at the event was comedian Vir Das, whose book, The Outsider: A Memoir for Misfits, was published recently. Speaking to journalist Anna M M Vetticad. Das reminisced on the context of his memoirs, “For some reason, I have seen more of the world, and I have been let into more worlds than anyone I have met. I have gatecrashed Bollywood, Hollywood… I have been an Indian in Africa, an African in an Indian boarding school, a boarding school kid in Delhi Public School…..I never truly belonged.”
Other major draws for the day at panels and book signings were Bangalore Literature Festival regulars such as Sudha Murthy and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, while Chetan Bhagat is set to make an appearance on Day 2. The schedule for both days also has plenty of offerings for lovers of Kannada literature, from a reading of Banu Mushtaq’s work to a tribute to the late doyen of Kannada literature, S L Bhyrappa.
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The literature festival—held at Freedom Park instead of the previous venue, Lalit Ashok, in order to accommodate a larger number of people—drew around 15,000 visitors on its first day. One of the organisers of the festival, author Shinie Antony said, “Our audiences are growing. A spacious venue will help there. And Freedom Park is full of historical significance, perhaps the best place to express oneself freely.”