Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest‘s New Hybrid Avatar for 2022

Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest is delighted to return with its 13th edition to its traditional venue at the NCPA, Nariman Point, also with sessions at St Pauls Institute of Communication Education (SPICE) and Title Waves book store in Bandra from 11-13 November 2022. The 2020 and 2021 editions were held virtually because of the pandemic. 

The highly successful virtual Litfest editions (8.5 million views in 2021) created keen online audiences and expectations. To meet both the virtual and on-ground demand, this year’s Litfest will see yet another innovation: a hybrid festival, with the online sessions taking place 9 & 10 November. 

There will, as always, be a star line up of international and national  writers, including celebrated names like Geetanjali Shree, Tony Fadell,  Arundhati Bhattacharya, Shashi Tharoor,  Paul Morland, Jerry Pinto, Naushad Forbes, Rohini Nilekani, Ashwin Sanghi, Sanjaya Baru, Mallika Sarabhai, Ian Cardozo, Mamang Dai, Onir, Rinki Bhattacharya and many others on ground. Online participants will include Damon Galgut, George Monbiot, Pankaj Mishra, Colm Tóibín, Susan Liautaud, John Pilger, among others.

The highlights of the Festival will all continue: the prestigious Tata Literature Live! Literary Awards, the presentation  of a Lifetime Achievement Award and the appointing of a Poet Laureate, the energetic Great Debate, poetry recitations scintillating performances, the popular workshops and the Book Swap. Mumbai will feature actively as the Litfest returns to its physical home, with various themes regarding the city: a new novel, coastal marine life, history and communities. 

Two new prizes: The Binod Kanoria Awards for Children’s Literature and The Rotary Writing For Peace Award, will also be presented under the aegis of the Festival. The Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards will return. 

In line with its spirit of literary expansion the Litfest has started sessions on languages other than English. Last year‘s language was Marathi and the sessions were enthusiastically received.  This year there will be an introduction to Gujarati prose and poetry. 

There will also be two international collaborative sessions this year, with France and UK. Noir in Mumbai will be premiered in India as part of the Litfest. Three rising stars of French crime fiction – Johana Gustawsson aka the Queen of French Noir, Sophie Hénaff and her Awkward Squad and Jérôme Loubry – will present their work for the first time to an Indian audience. This will culminate in a unique event, the Great Investigation, inspired by its sister activity in France and imagined by Indian author Kalpana Swaminathan, in which participants will have five hours to resolve the mystery of the theft of the Blue Sapphire! The collaboration with the UK will present new work being performed exploring the relationship between language and queerness, as the outcome of a project which will bring together six diverse and multicultural poets from India and the UK through residencies in both countries. 

The Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest has always been as much a Festival of ideas as literature. This year too will feature books and authors ranging across subjects like innovation, mentorship, philanthropy, media, food, gender issues, art, environment.

Looking forward to the 2022 Litfest, Director of the Festival, Amy Fernandes said: “We are excited to be launching a re-invention of the Litfest in a hybrid model. This will enable us to include authors who are still unable to travel, as well as our global virtual audiences who so enjoyed the Litfest during the pandemic. At the same time we are also delighted to be able to welcome back in person, the authors and audiences who have missed the distinctive Litfest activities, buzz and vibe at our physical venues. I would like to express our sincere thanks to our venue partner NCPA, and our presenting sponsor Tata, for their unstinting support since inception, and to SPICE and Title Waves book store for our Bandra arm. We greatly appreciate the invaluable support of Godrej Industries Ltd, Kotak, Mariwalla Initiatives and Hafele. This committed backing has enabled us to curate memorable Litfests, no matter what the differing circumstances, bringing us to our 13th edition this year.”

Speaking about the festival this year, Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons said – “We at the Tata Group are proud to be associated with Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest which has become a beautiful melting pot for literary enthusiasts across India.  The festival has grown from strength to strength, which is tribute to the pioneering work done by Anil Dharker and Shashi Baliga.  As a fitting tribute to these two stalwarts of Tata Literature Live!, the festival returns this year in a wonderful hybrid format – bringing back the in-person experience, alongside a digital format that reaches a much larger online community.  This is an invaluable opportunity for lovers of literature to meet their favourite authors up close and personal, and also listen to them from the comfort of their own locations.  We invite all of you to join us as we celebrate this festival of ideas, art and literature.”