PILF’17 To See Amjad Ali Khan, Asha Parekh, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar..

August 24, 2017

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Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) is back for its fifth edition that will take place from September 8 to 10. This year, the theme for the festival is ‘Voice of Women’ that will be explored through various sessions and panel discussions with noted authors and personalities. Bringing in a variety of authors, this year the PILF has dedicated itself to giving a platform for up and coming authors.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Manjiri Prabhu, Festival Director speaks about what Puneites can expect this year, “This year, we have 170 authors out of which 50 per cent are new. There will be a session for these authors wherein they will give a presentation about themselves or their book, explaining why it should be bought. This is a great opportunity for people to interact with writers and a chance for authors to reach out to their audience. There will be several workshops for adults and children as well.”

The festival will be inaugurated by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan who will also be in an engaging interview that will be conducted by Milee Ashwarya. Noted personalities like Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi will also be a part of a session wherein they will discuss women empowerment and films. The festival will also see a session called ‘Political Landscape: Boon or Bane?’ with participants like Uday Mahurkar, Deputy Editor, India Today, Tuhin Sinha, political commentator, Shankkar Aiyar, journalist and Priyanka Chaturvedi, spokesperson, Indian National Congress). Renowned journalist Sagarika Ghose will also be present in conversation with Shantanu Guha Ray on her new book ‘Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister’.

Keeping to the theme, festival-goers will also get to witness Justice V Kanade, who has worked on laws regarding women empowerment. Other eminent personalities who would share their thoughts on various subjects include Anu Aga, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Harish Bhat, Sudip Sen, Meera Borwankar, Divya Dutta, Kirti Kulhari, Jayant Kripalani, Micky Mehta, Sudha Menon, Vikram Bhatt, Ira Trivedi and Ashwini Iyer Tiwari.

The last day of the festival will see an interesting session with Asha Parekh who will be interviewed by film critic and author, Khalid Mohamed and Ajay Mago of Om Books. The panel will discuss the book her biography ‘Asha Parekh – The Hit Girl’

Every year, PILF dedicates a space to exhibit the works of a renowned authors. Last year, it was the life and works of Enid Blyton and this year, the space will be dedicated to Jane Austen.