Literature and its path to the future

The post lunch session on the first day of the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2017 opened with the panel discussion on “Keeping Literature Alive”. The panel was moderated by Ratna Rao Shekar. The panel included Dipankar Mukherjee, Kaartikeya Bajpai and Manjiri Prabhu.

The discussion gravitated towards the need and subsequent utility of the plethora of literary festivals in the nation.

The panelists all believed that the literary festivals were still in its infancy and were a long way from being able to pull larger crowds. They however were a place to start.

Fests provided a platform for budding authors to network and make a mark. The established authors and celebrities were crucial in spreading the word about literature.

The networking opportunities a fest provides were substantially needed for creating a flourishing literature scene.

Manjiri Prabhu noted that the curiosity and interest in literature had to be inculcated into children at an early age. And activities like book clubs, book appreciation meetings, fests helped sustain this movement.

Kaartikeya Baipai, as the youngest among the panelist gave a new-age perspective by adding that the outlook of the current generation has changed.

The tastes and expectations from literature and book stores have been altered. Only authors and stores that adapted according to the changing times would survive.

Dipankar Mukherjee laid out the numbers of the current publication market. He emphasised that mid-level writing would be pivotal in propagating and promoting the habit of reading.

The current world publication numbers may be going down but the outlook was looking up for the Indian scene though not spread evenly amongst the various sub-sections.

Literary works in both fiction and non-fiction may still have a long way to go but commercial literature is definitely a gateway to bigger better things in the future.