Mumbai LitFest is about literature, but it also celebrates ideas and achievements. Performances, discussions, poetry sessions, and the Great Debate on India and China, there is plenty in store for book lovers at the 16th edition of the literary festival, including The Little Festival for children.
Quasar Thakore Padamsee, Festival Co-Director, who has been associated with the LitFest since the beginning speaks to FPJ about what's exciting this year. According to him, this year the festival will reflect an even wider range of themes and sessions from society, social change, gender, health and wellness, relationships, law, current affairs, environment, science, history, poetry, inclusion, as well as eclectic, powerful performances.
Festival Co-Director Quasar Thakore Padamsee |
As a festival co-director how do you balance showcasing established authors while giving a platform for emerging writers?
As a festival, we are always on the lookout for new writing and new books. The committee reads voraciously to see which books we want to feature at the festival.
It feels quite wonderful when a new writer has been featured at our festival and then goes on to bigger things, like Booker and other literary prize nominations. We feel quite validated.
Some of the authors who received the Literature Live! First Book Awards in earlier years have become household names. And that's wonderful to see.
But the festival is a lovely blend of both established and new authors. And that combination allows newer authors to be discovered by our audience, and also for fresh, new ideas and styles to emerge.
The 16th edition has 100 authors from across 15 countries. What is the selection process like?
We have quite a single-minded logic when it comes to programming our sessions — Is there a book? We use that as our guiding light. So, we look for interesting, recent books that we can feature. Some we even help launch. The count is eleven this year.
But our commitment is to our audience. So we are always following books and authors locally and internationally who would be of interest to our audiences. We even develop conversations with the various consulates for recommendations in this regard.
In fact this year the Goethe Institut, Istituto Cultura di Italiano, Taiwan consulate, Australian consul-general, Norwegian consulate have all been instrumental in introducing us to authors from their countries and making this a truly international event.
The stage is set for The Little Festival 2025 |
The Poetry In The Park is such a novel concept. How did it come about?
The festival has always been about engaging with the city’s literary communities, and about two years ago, we were approached by The Poets of Mumbai, who were keen to collaborate with us. It made complete sense — spoken word has been such an integral part of the city's cultural landscape, with so many venues and collectives supporting and celebrating the form. That’s how Poetry in the Park came about: as a space within the festival for poets and audiences to connect more directly, through an open mic.
Tell me about the section that celebrates 100 years of The Great Gatsby.
Every year we have a Book In Focus session, the book being chosen for various differing criteria each year. This year is the 100th year of the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, one of the most classic books from America ever written. Its perennial themes around society, wealth, values, aspirations and broken dreams, resonate with readers even today.
We're hosting this one in collaboration with Art Deco Alive, which feels especially apt since Mumbai is an Art Deco city, and the book’s style and setting seems to align quite naturally. This is a very audience participative session, fashioned almost like a book club meeting, where the discussion is led by some of the authors at the festival and then continues in the form of a discussion by everyone present. It’s nice when an internationally known book is chosen, so that our overseas authors can also participate.
School children attend a session at The Little Festival 2025 |
What's the challenge of organising and sustaining a festival of this scale?
It is always challenging to mount a festival on this scale. To keep abreast of what is being written and discussed not only in India but the world, factor in choices, logistics, what we feel our audiences might or might not enjoy, curating sessions and so on.
But we have an experienced and dedicated team, and we put it together each year, with, I am delighted to say, the enthusiastic endorsement of those who attend. Fundraising too is always difficult, but we’ve been very fortunate to have long-standing supporters.
Which according to you is a city in India or abroad where literature thrives?
There are several cities in India and the world where literature thrives. The reasons are different, but the universality of good writing and literature is obviously the main factor. Whatever the format, the reading habit has not yet deserted us, and people the world over are still turning to books, however they may consume them, for enlightenment, entertainment, solace.
In India, I've always been intrigued by Bhilar, the village of books with over 35,000 titles. It's been on my bucket list for a while, and I'd love to visit someday.
