Hyderabad Literary Festival

2010 Festival

The festival started in 2010 and was held at the historic, Taramati Baradari. Muse India, the leading literary web-journal of the country, and Osmania University Centre for International Programmes (OUCIP), the international face of Osmania University (OU) had jointly organized HLF 2010. Held from December 10 to 12, 2010, Hyderabad played host to nearly 100 writers from across India, writing in various Indian languages and English. Never before had the Twin Cities seen an assemblage of such a large and diverse group of writers at a single event, reading from their work and sharing their insights into the creative process.

Key among them were, Padma Bhushan Prof Shiv K. Kumar, the Doyen among Indian English Poets, Prof Udaya Narayana Singh, Pro-VC, Viswa-Bharati, Santiniketan, Prof K. Satchidanandan, Former Secretary, Sahitya Akademi and eminent Malayalam Poet, Ms Mamang Dai, former Civil Servant and noted Writer from North-East India, Dr Shanta Acharya, London-based poet and scholar, earlier with the London Business School, Mr Hemant Divate, the noted Marathi poet and Editor, Abhidhanantar, Dr Dileep Jhaveri, the Eminent Gujarati poet, K Siva Reddy, the leading Telugu poet, Prof Laksmisree Banerjee, Vice Chancellor, Kolhan University, Jharkhand, Prof Hoshang Merchant, the well-known Hyderabad-based poet, Mr T P Rajeevan, Malayalam poet, editor and publisher and Dr Sukrita Paul Kumar, noted Urdu and Hindi scholar and poet.

The Festival was inaugurated on December 10, 2010 at Green Park Hotel, Greenlands, Hyderabad. Mr Keki Daruwalla, the Distinguished poet, delivered the Keynote Address. The Literary sessions were held at OUCIP along with a special Cultural Evening at the famous heritage site, Taramati Baradari, Golkonda. The participants of the Festival were :

Writers in Indian Languages

1. Kamal Kumar Tanti
2. Rashmirekha Bora
3. Siva Prasad Marar

1. Probal Dasgupta

1. Dileep Jhaveri
2. Rajendra Patel
3. Sanju Vala
4. Nazir Mansuri
5. Neerav Patel
6. Ajai Sarvaiya

1. Savita Singh
2. Vinita Sharma

1. Hema Pattannashetty

1. Udaya Narayana Singh

1. K Satchidanandan
2. T P Rajeevan
3. Kalpatta Narayanan
4. O P Suresh

1. Hemant Divate
2. Mangesh Kale
3. Varjesh Solanki
4. Manya Joshi

1. Paramita Satpathy
2. Bharat Majhi

1. Bhagwant Rasoolpuri

1. Rajaram Brammarajan
2. Mugaiyur Asadha
3. Sreenesan
4. Ajayan Bala
5. Pazhanivel

1. K Siva Reddy
2. Volga
3. Vinodini
4. Mahe Jabeen
5. Mukunda Ramarao
6. Varanasi Nagalakshmi
7. Rani Sivasankara Sarma

1. Jameela Nishat
2. Baig Ehsas
3. Raoof Khair
4. Gian Singh

Writers in English

1. Shiv K. Kumar
2. Keki Daruwalla
3. Shanta Acharya
4. Mamang Dai
5. Sukrita Paul Kumar
6. Laksmisree Banerjee
7. Hoshang Merchant
8. Sridala Swamy
9. Rizio Raj
10. Kala Ramesh
11. Shernaz Wadia
12. Ibohal Kshetrimayum
13. Janice Pariat
14. Lovita J R Morang
15. Navkirat Sodhi
16. R J Kalpana
17. Kalyani Kapur
18. Rumjhum Biswas
19. Priyadarshi Patnaik
20. Deepa Agarwal
21. Manu Dash
22. Sharanya Haridas
23. Dominic Franks
24. Anindita Sengupta
25. Menka Shivdasani
26. Gargi Talapatra
27. Murali Sivaramakrishnan
28. VVB Rama Rao
29. Thampi Jayasingh
30. Rajaram Ramachandran
31. Anupama Raju
32. Meitim Connolly
33. Priti Aisola
34. Mohammad Zahid
35. Maryam Ala Amjadi
36. Gopa Nayak
37. Kumarendra Mallick
38. Seshu Chamarty
39. Atreya Sarma
40. TS Chandramouli
41. Ruth Khanna
42. Sivakami Velliangiri
43. Ambika Ananth
44. Hiranya Aditi
45. Anand Viswanadha
46. Vamsee Juluri
47. V Ramabrahmam
48. Fatima Shahnaz
49. Satish K Agarwal

2012 Festival

The festival was held from January 16–18, 2012 at the impressive Taramati Baradari cultural complex located in the historic Golkonda area. It was organized by Muse India, the highly acclaimed Hyderabad-based literary eJournal, and the Department of Tourism, Government of AP, in partnership with Osmania University, Central University of Hyderabad, and several cultural organizations of the city.

Special sessions were held in Telugu and Urdu-Hindi literatures. Some of the best writers in Telugu, Urdu and Hindi based in Hyderabad were featured in sessions dedicated to these languages. There was an actual performance of Ashthavadhanam, a unique and amazing genre of Telugu literature that demands exceptional scholarship, skills in composing poetry, memory power and presence of mind. There also was an Urdu Mushaira session, so popular among the people of Hyderabad.

Germany was the 'Featured Nation' at HLF-2012, with the participation of a few senior German writers and a Music band. Muse India also carried a special feature on Contemporary German Literature in its Jan-Feb 2012 Issue to coincide with the festival.

Muse India instituted 2 awards to be given at HLF - The Young Writer Award and The Translation Award. For the 2011 awards, Muse India received an overwhelming response with 150 entries. National level Juries nominated the following writers/books (alphabetical order) for the Awards that were announced at HLF 2012:

Nominations for the Translation Award 2011

1. Jai Ratan's translation of Kamleshwar's 'Not Flowers of Henna', Katha, 2007
2. Naresh Jain's translation of Omprakash Valmiki's 'Amma and Other Stories', Manohar, 2008
3. Ranjit Hoskote's translation of 'I, Lalla, The Poems of Lal Ded', Penguin. 2011.

Nominations for the Young Writer Award 2011 for Poetry

1. Amrita V Nair's 'Yours Affectionately', Writers Workshop, 2009
2. Anindita Sengupta's 'City of Water', Sahitya Akademi, 2010
3. Semeen Ali's 'Rose & Ashes', Writers Workshop, 2009.

Guests of Honour for HLF 2012 were C. Narayana Reddy, Gulzar, and Pavan K. Varma. Foreign Writers included Christopher Kloeble.de/englisch.htm Christopher Kloeble, Germany, Constance Borde, France, Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, France, and Urs Widmer, Switzerland.

The other participating writers and speakers were:

1. Abburi Chhaya Devi
2. Adil Jussawalla
3. Aditi Rao
4. Ahilya Mishra
5. Ajay M Konchery
6. Ambika Ananth
7. Amish Tripathi
8. Amita Desai
9. Amrita V Nair
10. Ananda Shankar Jayant
11. Angshuman Kar
12. Anindita Sengupta
13. Anitha Thampi
14. Arathi H N
15. Arjun Choudhuri
16. Ashraf Rafi
17. Atreya Sarma U
18. Bharat Majhi
19. Charanjeet Kaur
20. Chennaiah V (Doraveti)
21. Dileep Jhaveri
22. Elizabeth Kurian ‘Mona’
23. Gillian Wright
24. Gopi N
25. Haragopal G
26. Harimohan Paruvu
27. Hasan Farrukh
28. Hemang Desai
29. Hemant Divate
30. Hoshang Merchant
31. Indu Sundaresan
32. Jagdish Mittal
33. Jagjeevan Lal Asthana
34. Jaishree Misra
35. Jeelani Bano
36. Kazim Ali
37. Khadeer Babu
38. Khalid Saeed
39. Kiran Nagarkar
40. Kishori Lal Vyas
41. Krishna Shastri Devulapalli
42. Madhu Benoit
43. Mamta Agarwal
44. Mamta Sagar
45. Mandakranta Sen
46. Mark Tully
47. Masood Jafri
48. Meena Alexander
49. Mohan Ramanan
50. Mrunalini C
51. Mushaf Iqbal Tausifi
52. Muztar Mazaj
53. Nabina Das
54. Narendra Luther
55. Narendra Rai Srivastav
56. Navkirat Sodhi
57. Prageeta Sharma
58. Prasad GJV
59. Pritham Chakravarthy
60. Priti Aisola
61. Rahul Pandita
62. Raja Hussain
63. Rajeevan Thachom Poyil
64. Rammanohar Reddy C
65. Rishabha Deo Sharma
66. Robert Bohm
67. Sachidananda Mohanty
68. Sachin Ketkar
69. Saeed Mirza
70. Sagarika Chakraborty
71. Sailaja Mithra
72. Santosh Alex
73. Sardar Saleem
74. Semeen Ali
75. Shankar Melkote
76. Shanta Acharya
77. Shashi Narayan Swadheen
78. Sridala Swami
79. Srilata K
80. Sudha Balagopal
81. Sukrita Paul Kumar
82. Suniti Namjoshi
83. Sushmita Sadhu
84. Swati Chawla
85. Syed Saleem
86. Tasneem Johar
87. Udaya Narayana Singh
88. Vamsee Juluri

2013 Festival

In 2013 the 3-day Hyderabad Literary Festival was very successfully held from 18 to 20 January 2013 on the campus of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Gachibowli, Hyderabad. It drew participation of around 125 writers and artistes from all over India and several other countries. It was inaugurated on Jan 18, 2013 by Mr E S L Narasimhan, Honorable Governor of State. The keynote was delivered by Dr Sitakant Mahapatra, the Jnanpith and Padma Vibhushan awardee.

HLF2013 was organized by Muse India: the literary ejournal in collaboration with the State Government Department of Tourism, and with the support of several academic, literary, cultural organizations and publishing houses. The Guest Nation of HLF 2013 was France. A new feature that was being introduced at HLF 2013, was a special focus on the literature and culture of one Indian language at each edition of the Festival. Telugu became the first language in focus at HLF 2013.

The writers that represented the Indian Language in Focus, Telugu, were :

1. Bhagyalakshmi J
2. Bhaskar Nalimela
3. Bhavani Devi Chillara
4. Chandramouli Raamaa
5. Devipriya
6. Gopi N
7. Kavitha Prasad, Rallabandi
8. Mrunalini C
9. Rajender Mangari
10. Ramkrishna Rao Yallapragada
11. Satish Chandar
12. Satyanarayana S V
13. Shajahana Begum
14. Siva Reddy K
15. Venugopal N

The French delegation of writers that represented France as the Guest Nation for HLF 2013 were:

1. Anupama Raju
2. Jean Morières
3. Judith Oriol
4. Kenize Mourad
5. Pascale Labbé
6. Vaiju Naravane

The other foreign delegates present at HLF 2013 were :

1. Bill Ashcroft, Australia
2. Bill Wolak, USA
3. Dorothee Elmiger, Switzerland
4. Gabriel Rosenstock, Ireland
5. Germain Droogenbroodt, Belgium
6. Inka Parei, Germany
7. Katy Derbyshire, Germany
8. Nukhbah Langah, Pakistan
9. Onyeka Nwelue, Nigeria
10. Paula Richman, USA
11. Theresa Hahl, Germany

Indian writers who work abroad, and were present at HLF 2013 were:

1. Dipika Mukherjee, USA
2. Kanchana Krishnan Ayyar, USA
3. Kunal Mukherjee, USA
4. Latika Mangrulkar, USA
5. Meena Alexander, USA
6. Meenu Mehrotra, Dubai
7. Michelle Cahill, Australia
8. Rama Shivakumar, USA
9. Supriya Bhatnagar, USA
10. Tabish Khair, Denmark
11. Ujwala Dixit, USA

Writers from across India who participated in HLF 2013 are:

1. Abha Iyengar
2. Abhisar Sharma
3. Altaf Tyrewala
4. Ambika Ananth
5. Anita Nair
6. Anna Sujatha Mathai
7. Debasish Lahiri
8. Dileep Jhaveri
9. Dilip D'Souza
10. Dipallé Parmar
11. Ganesh N Devy
12. Gayatribala Panda
13. Hemant Divate
14. Jaydeep Sarangi
15. Jose Varghese
16. Kala Ramesh
17. Krishna Shastri Devulapalli
18. Kulpreet Yadav
19. Lakshmi Kannan
20. Lipipuspa Nayak
21. Mamta Anand
22. Manosi Lahiri
23. Menka Shivdasani
24. Mohammad Zahid
25. Mridula Koshy
26. Mushirul Hasan
27. Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee
28. Prasad G J V
29. Priyamvada N Purushotham
30. Rajeevan Thachom Poyil
31. Ramesh K
32. RamG Vallath
33. Ranjit Hoskote
34. Ranu Uniyal
35. Richa Lakhera
36. Sachin Ketkar
37. Satchidanandan K
38. Shafi Shauq
39. Sindhu Rajasekaran
40. Sreelatha Chakravarty
41. Sudeep Sen
42. Vikrant Dutta
43. Vinod Mehta

Various writers and speakers who were in Hyderabad, and also took part in HLF 2013, are:

1. Aarthi Ramachandran
2. Amita Desai
3. Ananda Shankar Jayant
4. Atreya Sarma U
5. Jameela Nishat
6. Jean-Manuel Duhaut
7. Karuna Gopal
8. Kumarendra Mallick
9. Mohan Ramanan
10. Narendra Luther
11. Rao GSP
12. Sachidananda Mohanty
13. Sekhar Kammula
14. Shankar Melkote
15. Sudhir TS
16. Tejdeep Kaur Menon
17. Vasuprada Kartic
18. Vijay Kumar T

2014 Festival

HLF's fourth edition was held right in the heart of the city on Literary Street, Road no. 8, Banjara Hills. The festival was a grand success with an estimated approximately 6,500 footfall over the three days of the festival from January 24 to January 26, 2014. This year's guest nation was Ireland and H.E. Feilim McLaughlin, Ambassador of Ireland to India, graced the occasion as Guest of Honour. The Indian language in focus was Hindi, and several Hindi authors including Sahitya Academi award-winner Mridula Garg were present.

The inauguration took place on the January 24, 2014 at Ashiana and the festival was presented by Smt. Chandana Khan, IAS Special Chief Secretary, Telangana Tourism, and Hon. Chairman of Hyderabad Literary Festival. Mahesh Dattani, well known playwright in English, actor and director from India, also the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi award, was the Chief Guest. The inauguration ceremony culminated in a Literary Walk or LitWalk, that threw open the Literary Street and brought all the festival venues to life!

The festival took place in various venues off Literary Street : Ashiana, Kalpa School, Saptaprni, Kalakriti Art Gallery and Lamakaan. The programme left one spoilt for choice with a packed schedule including literary sessions, several workshops that catered to all ages, competitions for children and youth, as well as evening cultural events on all three days. The highlight of the cultural programme was the performance at the historical location of Taramati Baradari, by Irish groups "Mouth on Fire" and "Guthanna Binne Síoraí" that brought to life the work of Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett and the poetry of Irish Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and WB Yeats.

The festival had more than a hundred writers, poets, artists, speakers and panelists present.

2015 Festival

The fifth edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2015 was held from 23–26 January 2015. The chief guest for the HLF 2015 was a renowned poet and literary figure, Javed Akhtar. The inaugural function was organised at Park Hyatt Hotel, Banjara Hills.

2016 Festival

The sixth edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2016 is held from 7-10 January 2016.