Over 130 writers, thinkers from the world to attend Kolkata Literary Meet

Over 130 writers and thinkers from around the world are scheduled to attend the five-day Kolkata Literary Meet, 2017, one of the major literary festivals in the city, beginning on January 25.

The line-up, organisers said, included Paul Beatty, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor and Kanishk Tharoor, Ruskin Bond, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rachel Holmes, Soumitra Chatterjee and Srijato.

Kiran Desai, Anita Desai, Gulzar, Romila Thapar, Ramchandra Guha, Sharmila Tagore, Shashi Tharoor, Javed Akhtar, Rachel Holmes, Ashwin Sanghi, Tabish Khair, Saeed Naqvi, Shami Chakraborty, Nayomi Munaweera, Shehan Karunatilake would also attend the annual festival.

The two new focus areas in this year's jamboree are youth engagement and writing of history.

Another highlight is the trans-generational writing, bringing together writers from two different generations that will be best illustrated by mother and daughter duo of Anita and Kiran Desai, Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Nandana Sen, and the father and son duo of Shashi and Kanishk Tharoor.

The sixth edition of Literary Meet will also explore Shakespeare@400, an intrinsic way of dwelling on the journey of the legend and the 400 years of his literally omnipresence.

Speaking about the forthcoming event, Peeyush Gupta, Vice-President, Steel (Marketing and Sales), Tata Steel, said, "We feel privileged and honoured to offer our continued support to the Literary Meet, a platform that brings together literary pundits and connoisseurs of literature."