8th edition of Ahmedabad International Literature Festival will be held on 24, 25 and 26 November 2023 at the picturesque venue, Centre for Environment Education, Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad.
The festival this year with the theme ‘Literature and Human Development’ will be inaugurated by Dr. Justice KJ Thaker, Hon. Chairperson of Gujarat State Human Rights Commission with Dr. SK Nanda, IAS (Retd.) author, columnist and former home secretary of Gujarat along with renowned actor and poet Shri Akhilendra Mishra and founder director of the festival Umashanker Yadav.
Over 100 speakers from different walks of life from all over India and abroad will be participating in different panel discussions, performances, plays and poetry recitations. Book launches and classical dances will also feature during the three days of literary festivities.
Prominent speakers are film actors Rajendra Gupta, Yashpal Sharma and Akhilendra Mishra. Journalists Mayank Shekhar, Dr. Shirish Kashikar, Jyoti Yadav, young lyricist Dr. Sagar and best-selling Hindi authors journalist Shirish Khare, Dr. Heera Lal IAS and Kumud Verma will be participating in the event. Prince of erstwhile Rajpipla state, Manvendra Sinh Gohil renowned neurologist Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir V. Shah, literary agent and writer Preeti Gill, Prof. KB Veio Pou of North East and student writers and authors from African countries and Bangladesh will also share their views on different subjects.
Mentor of the festival, Dr. SK Nanda, IAS (Retd.) while addressing the media said that looking at the degrading human values across the globe, we decided to explore the role of literature in the human development through this edition. Different topics like the role of creative industries and schools, mental health, feminist writings, partition literature, North East literature, world literature, Children’s literature, social projects and poetry sessions have been designed to understand and discuss the role of literature and the necessity of developing the humans into bigger human beings with wider perspectives, inclusivity, compassion and the sense of belongingness among the human race.
Founder Director Umashanker Yadav emphasized on the importance of the creative industries, literature and the literary communities for value-based society. Human values can be inculcated by growing the reader and writer base through engaging different communities particularly the children and young adults where activities like these festivals play an important role, he said. He informed that due to proactive approach of his team, many schools, colleges and universities are enthusiastically participating through their principals, teachers and students as moderators, speakers, performers and volunteers in this edition which is first of its kind for this festival.
Book Launches, Gujarati, Hindi / Urdu and English Poetry recitation along with plays and classical dance performances will keep the audience spell-bound throughout for three days.
