The field of culture, literature and enquiry needs to be nurtured, just as Auroville has nurtured the land and made it green,” believes writer and dance choreographer Anuradha Majumdar, one of the festival coordinators of the Auroville Literature Festival, which will be held at this universal township, home to people from over 60 countries.
The debut edition of this festival, which marks the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, the spiritual collaborator of Auroville’s founder, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), seeks to “honour that legacy and bring it to life together with the writing and search of the world today”, adds Majumdar, who is coordinating the festival with Sudha Prabhu.
Aurobindo, after whom the city was named, she says, was a prolific writer himself, with 36 published volumes of written work to his name, including articles as a revolutionary journalist, of evolutionary philosophy, literary theory, a 24,000-line epic poem, social and political thought and more. This is something, Sanjeev Chopra, the festival director of the Valley of Words International Literature and Arts Festival, one of the festival’s partners (the other is the Chennai International Centre), echoes. “We should also understand that he was a great Indian writer in English,” says Chopra, pointing out that Aurobindo had been educated in England. “The spiritual personality and revolutionary personality of Aurobindo has sort of taken over this aspect of it,” he says of the festival.
Unfurling over two-and-a-half days, the festival will bring together writers and thinkers — local, national and global — offering myriad perspectives on fiction, non-fiction, poetry and, of course, Aurobindo. Some of the speakers at the festival include journalist Gautam Chikermane, poet and translator George Szirtes, novelist Jennifer Down, literary agent Kanishka Gupta, linguist Peggy Mohan, author Karen Jennings and poet, critic, and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote, among many others.
Hoskote, who has recently released a new collection of poetry, Icelight, and will be part of three sessions at the festival, admits to being both intrigued by and looking forward to the festival. “It is in a place where one has all these associations of an attempt to start a new kind of society, a visionary project,” he says.
Local and global
Writer and editor Namita Gokhale, the co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, often described as “the greatest literary show on Earth”, remembers what it was like back in 2006 when the festival was first envisioned. “The Jaipur Literature Festival was set up at a moment in time when books had been all but banished from newspapers and the Sunday sections had become absurdly trivialised,” says Gokhale, a speaker at the festival’s inaugural session, where she will discuss her experiences in the literary world and her journey as a writer with Sanjeev Chopra. The success of Jaipur, she adds, changed this perception. “Literary festivals provide an invaluable platform for books and authors,” she shares, adding that listening to writers talking about their books provides another dimension to the readers’ understanding of these texts.
It is something South African author Karen Jennings, whose novel, An Island, was long-listed for the 2021 Booker Prize, must agree with. “I think any opportunity for writers and readers to interact is a positive one. We all need to be reading, to be discussing, and learning from one another,” she says, pointing out that festivals like this encourage reading and help build a sense of local and global community. “There should be no ivory towers.”
By most accounts, locating the festival in Auroville will end up defining its flavour, audience and evolution. For starters, the festival promises to offer intrinsic globality, unlike the older literature festival held in nearby Puducherry, which has been embracing increasingly nationalistic undertones since its 2018 inception.
“Auroville is a place located in Tamil Nadu, located in India, but it is actually for the world, right?” says Chopra. Adding to this idea, Gokhale points out that Auroville is situated in a community of engaged and receptive persons who have much to contribute. “The Auroville festival brings with it a deep legacy of ideas and intellectual and creative engagement,” she says. “My instinct says that it will make a distinct mark on the literary landscape.”
The festival, which will be held between August 25 and 27, is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Auroville Foundation.
preeti.zachariah@thehindu.co.in
