Unmesh Lit Fest in Shimla 16-18 June

Shimla : Sahitya Akademi and Ministry of Culture, Government of India are organising Unmesha, an International Literature Festival in Shimla from 16th  to 18th  June, 2022 as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations with the support of Department of Art and Culture, Government of Himachal Pradesh.

The festival will be organised in the heritage buildings, the Gaiety Heritage Cultural complex and the Town Hall, on the Ridge, Shimla. The Inaugural session will take place in the main auditorium of Gaiety Theatre on 16th June, 2022 from 11.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon wherein Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi Ministers of State for Culture and Governor of Andhra Pradesh Biswa Bhusan Harichandan will grace the occasion.

Over 425 writers, poets, translators, critics and distinguished personalities from various walks of life from 15 countries including India, representing over 60 languages and 64 events, Unmesha, International Literature Festival is the largest literature festival in the country.

The festival will feature discussions, presentations, poetry and story readings performances etc covering a wide range of topics such as “Cinema and Literature,” “World Classics & Indian Writing,” “Tribal Writings”, “Writings of LGBTQ community of India,” “Media & Literature,” “Bhakti Literature” & “Uniting Cultures through Translation.”

The evenings will feature cultural performances-Bharatanatyam by Sonal Mansingh, Tala Vadya Kacheri by P. Jayabhaskar, Nagara by Nathulal Solanki and Dastan-e-Karn, Dastangoi by Mahmood Farooqui.

Some of the writers expected are Sonal Mansingh, Gulzar ,S.L. Bhyrappa, Chandrashekhar Kambar, Kiran Bedi, Linda Hess, Daniel Negers, Surjit Patar, Namita Gokhale, Kapil Kapoor, Arif Mohammad Khan, Reghuveer Chaudhari, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Vishwas Patil, Ranjit Hoskote, Gotanjalli Shree, Sai Paranjpye, Deepti Naval, Malashri Lal, Sudarshan Vashishtha, Pratyoosh Guleri, S.R. Harnot, Hoshang Merchant, Leeladhar Jagoori, Arun Kamal, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Satish Alekar and Vishnu Dutt Rakesh.

The event is free to the public on all the days and during the festival, there will be a display of about 1000 books related to Indian freedom movement will be on display and the publications of five Indian publishers will be for sale.