EditorBengaluru: The Green Literature Festival is celebrating its first offline annual event at the Bangalore International Centre on 18th December from 10-6pm. As India’s only festival dedicated exclusively to all forms of literature on the environment, this promises to be a fiesta for eco-enthusiasts, nature lovers and readers of all ages and tastes.
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The day will begin with an address by the renowned author and environmental historian Mahesh Rangarajan on the ‘Joys of Writing on the Environment’ followed by sessions delving into everything from the art of nature filmmaking to conserving habitats. Prof. Harini Nagendra, Author and Faculty at Azim Premji University, Masood Mallick, CEO of Re Sustainability and Abi T. Vanak of ATREE will offer fresh perspectives on the climate crisis that allows for hope amid the gloom, while the young climate activists of Fridays for Future, Disha Ravi, Tamanna Sengupta and Sriranjini Raman will offer a peak into how reading opens doors to nature for young people at the frontiers of the environmental movement.
For those interested in hands-on activities, author and editor Bijal Vachharajani will conduct a workshop on Nature Writing for children and parents, while the much-loved cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty will help participants Solve a Crime Scene with Adventurer, Sleuth, Mongoose Naturalist Ruddy. The festival also includes a not-to-be-missed special edition of WWF-India’s Wild Wisdom Quiz and live music.
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As a festival dedicated to green literature, the highlight of the day will be the GLF HONOUR BOOK AWARDS, the only awards in India that exclusively celebrate writing on the environment in three categories: business, general fiction and non-fiction, and children. All the winners receive a special certificate, a trophy and a cash award. To view the books under consideration, visit https://greenlitfest.com/honour-books/ [business, general fiction and non-fiction, children]
Every year, the team maps green books published in India and following a combination of popular ratings and critical reviews by a discerning jury, longlists and shortlists are drawn up before honouring three books. In the two years of its existence, the festival has made a concerted effort to mainstream this literature and the response has been extremely encouraging. Our curated longlists have been widely acclaimed online as eclectic collections including everything from fiction and non-fiction to poetry and comics. In response to the announcement of the General Fiction and Non-Fiction longlist this year, Amitav Ghosh tweeted, ‘This is a great list. Honoured to be on it.’
This year’s shortlists include books by Ranjit Hoskote, Pranay Lal, Mridula Ramesh, Savita Hiremath, Mukund Rajan, Col. Rajeev Kumar, Kavitha Iyer, Akshay Manwani, Bijal Vachharajani and Rohan Chakravarty. All the books curated by the festival for its awards would be available for browsing and sale at the venue, alongside other curated reads. There will also be a special book launch for titles released in 2022.
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As a festival that emerged in the pall of a global pandemic, GLF is a response to the urgent need for literature that helps us comprehend our relationship with the planet, mend the broken bits, and find refuge and comfort amidst the climate crisis.
Day and Date: Sunday, 18th December 2022
Venue: Bangalore International Centre
Time: 10 am-6 pm
Meghana Harikumar
Ranjani Govind
Editor
Raj Rangarajan
