The capital once again is getting ready to bathe in the radiance of brilliant minds who will gather on Bangla Academy premises from around the world on the occasion of Hay Festival Dhaka 2013. This is the third time the three-day literary festival is kicking off in the capital from November 14. World class thinkers and writers, including Tariq Ali, Ahdaf Soueif and Pankaj Mishra, will be engaged in sessions of the festival, said its organisers at a press conference in the academy yesterday.
A total of 75 sessions will be held this year, they said.
The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, which started at a small street of Hay-on-Wye, Wales of UK in 1988, is still being celebrated in many countries of Europe, America and Asia.
In Bangladesh, Hay has expanded its reach ten-fold by attracting over 10,000 readers, writers and literature connoisseurs last year in comparison to 1,000 in 2011.
This year, luminaries of Bangladesh Hasan Azizul Huq, Syed Shamsul Haq and Syed Manzoorul Islam will take part in discussion sessions alongside the foreign dignitaries, said Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi, a member of the festival producers.
Tahmima Anam, Lyndy Cooke and Peter Florence are other members of the producers.
Nadeem Aslam, Eliot Weinberger, Aamer Hussein, Romesh Gunesekera and Florence Noiville are among the 50 foreign participants who will join the festival of books and words, said Siddiqi, adding that publications of a new wave of talented Bangladeshi authors, who write in English, will also be featured in the extravaganza.
There will be discussions on literature, poetry, writing and recitations and children’s programmes and workshops at the festival. Ellah Allfrey, the chair of Commonwealth Writers Short Story competition 2014, will also conduct a workshop.
Unlike other years, this year’s Hay is open to all and no registration will be required to attend its sessions.
Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star, the title sponsor of the festival said the main aim of the festival is to introduce the English literature writings of Bangladeshis to the international arena.
About international standard of English literature produced by Bangladeshi writers, he said many Bangladeshi writers received international acclaim through which they have opened the door for the country’s literature to the global arena.
“Hay Festival is playing an important role in this regard,” he said, adding that the festival has also created a huge number of English fiction readers in Bangladesh.
He also said the festival in Dhaka is even attracting the attention of organisers and participants of Hay in other countries where the festival is regularly being held.
On the presence of noted writers and thinkers, Anam said, they will not only interact and share their thoughts with Bangladeshi writers, readers and general people but will take home a Bangladeshi experience which will be reflected positively in their writings.
This will once again create a positive image of the country in the international arena, he added.
Bangla Academy Director General Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan said, “We have a rich repository of literature, we have failed to gain international recognition due to lack of standard translation.”
Many Bangladeshi writers could have won the Nobel Prize for Literature if they had the opportunity to take their writings to the international readers, he said.
The Hay is creating that opportunity as it becomes a meeting place of foreign and local writers who can help each other reach a greater audience, the DG said.
He cited the example of Rabindranath Tagore, who was helped by John Keats in translating his Nobel winning work, Gitanjali.
Litterateur Syed Manzoorul Islam, Kazi Anis Ahmed of KK Tea, the key sponsor of the event, and Eeshita Azad, head of Arts of British Council Bangladesh, Hay’s global partner, also spoke at the press conference.
The festival has other sponsors and partners including Commonwealth and Jatrik.
-With The Daily Star input
