PrintWeek India offers you a handy rundown on the important festivals and what to expect where.

Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival

The first major literary initiative of the year, the sixth edition of the festival is on from 14 to 18 January, with signature events, exploring literature as part of our tangible and intangible heritage, at the city’s magnificent heritage sites, and the iconic Oxford Bookstore Kolkata. Interesting sessions include a celebration on 125 years of the iconic National Geographic magazine; launch of the short story collection, A Clutch of Indian Masterpieces, edited by David Davidar, and published by Aleph; launch of senior journalist Shekhar Gupta’s Anticipating India: ­The Best of National Interest, a ringside view of contemporary Indian history, and the launch of Honour & Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914-18 by Captain Amarinder Singh, where the military historian painstakingly retraces the footsteps of the Indian Battalions during the First World War.

The Hindu Lit For Life
 

To be held on 16, 17 and 18 January, at the Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai, Lit of Life will feature lectures, panel discussions, performances, workshops and more, featuring both popular authors like Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi and highbrow authors like Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton. Also, The Hindu Literary Prize will be conferred during the festival.  

Crime Writers Festival

To be held on 17 and 18 January, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, the festival will feature both local crime writing, like the legacy of Ibn-e-Safi and international crime writers from Norway. Local bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi and filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee, will be among the speakers.

Jaipur Literature Festival
 

The mother of all literature festivals in India, JLF is from 21 to 25 January, at Diggi Palace, and like every year, it boasts a guest list almost 300 delegates, which includes the who’s who of the literary world, from Nobel laureates to local language writers, Man Booker prize winners to debut novelists, who come together for five days of readings, debates and discussions.

Jaipur Book Mark 2015

For the publishing community, another must-attend event is the Jaipur Book Mark, “where South Asia meets the world.” The event will run for two days parallel with the Jaipur Literature Festival on 21 and 22 January at Narain Niwas, Jaipur. The topics to be discussed include ‘Is publishing unbankable?’, ‘Digital platforms: the untapped territories,’ ‘Libraries and archives: Time travellers extraordinaire’, ‘Who is the book?’ and ‘Rethinking translations: relocating the centre’, among others.

Hyderabad Literary Festival

On from 23 to 26 January, at Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, the festival, organised by Hyderabad Literary Trust, in association with the Government of Telangana, will have Poland as the guest nation. The festival pays special attention to the writing in one Indian language at each edition and this year, Urdu will be the language in focus. Noted speakers include Javed Akhtar, Christopher Doyle and GN Devy, among others.

Kolkata Literary Meet (Kalam)

To be held at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, from 23 to 27 January, notable speakers at the meet include Ruskin Bond, Rajdeep Sardesai, Jaya Bachhan. The event also promises to showcase Urdu poet Javed Akhtar’s translations of Rabindranath Tagore’s works.

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Every February, artists, performers and writers gather at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in the nine-day carnival. This year, the festival is from 7 to 15 February, and will see 500 events. The theme for this year’s literature section is ‘watermark’.

Lucknow Literary Festival

To be held from 13 to 15 February, the festival will be attended by social activist Shabana Azmi, writer Rakshanda Jalil, Ghazal singer Kailash Joshi, among others. The event will also celebrate the rich heritage of Lucknowi culture, with quwwalis and shayari from Lucknow’s nawabi tehzeeb. There will also be dastangoi sessions, kavi sammelans and mushayras.

New Delhi World Book Fair

To be held at Pragati Maidan, Delhi, from 14  to 22 February, the country’s premier book fair attracts participation of publishers not only from India, but from across the world. This year, the guest of honour nation will be Singapore, whereas Korea will be the focus country.

Globalocal 2015

The two-day power-packed affair aimed at the Indian publishing industry placed right before the start of New Delhi World Book Fair, on 12 and 13 February, at EROS Hotel in Delhi, Globalocal, organised by German Book Office, New Delhi, is a B2B platform integrating networking opportunities, facilitated business meetings, topical workshops, experience zone and expert-led incubators. In its sixth edition this year, Globalocal will play host to publishing professionals from India and eight other countries to convene and explore new business possibilities while exchanging and updating knowledge of market trends.