Hyderabad Lit Fest begins today

The seventh edition of Hyderabad Literary Festival – HLF 2017 will open today at Hyderabad Public School with an inaugural address by the popular poet Ashok Vajpeyi, and the session will be presided over by State IT Secretary and chairman of HLF Organising Committee Jayesh Ranjan. The three-day festival will have Philippines is the ‘Guest Nation’, and the ambassador of Republic of Philippines Ma Teresita C Daza will be the Guest of Honour. Several sessions are planned that include Filipino writers.

The programmes will include talks, conversations, panel discussions, readings, workshops, exhibitions, book launches, cultural programme, events for college students and school children.

Tamil being the language in Focus, the second day of the festival will mark the beginning of Tamil Film Festival that will be inaugurated by actor Prakash Raj; who will also be taking part in a session on cinema along with young director Nandini Raddy. There will also be a session as a tribute to M S Subbulakshmi by her grand-niece and well-known writer and art critic Gowri Ramnarayan and famous photographer Avinash Pasricha.

Other highlights at the HLF 2017 include a play being staged on the first day as a homage to Mahasweta Devi, Chandralekha, MS Subbulakshmi; stage talks, cultural events, workshops, exhibitions and school children's book fair.

The entry to Hyderabad Literary Festival, which will be held till January 28, is free and the schedule can be seen on the website www.hydlitfest.org.