Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) is is a 3-day annual event that celebrates creativity in all its forms. The calendar event, as always, will witness panel discussions, author interactions, book launches and bookstalls. Each year HLF draws over a hundred writers, artists, academics, scholars, publishers from India and abroad. With the support of several academic, literary, cultural organizations and publishing houses, HLF is organized by Hyderabad Literary Trust in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Telangana. HLF 2020 is the 10th edition as its inaugural event was held in the year 2010. This year’s fest will move to Vidyaranya High School, After staying put at the Hyderabad Public School since 2015.
This literary festival has emerged as an important event as it represents the rich and cosmopolitan ethos of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Every year, HLF has a guest nation and an Indian language in focus. In this year’s HLF, Australia is the guest nation and Malayalam is the Indian language in focus. Through the celebration of an eclectic combination of literature, arts, culture and heritage, HLF aspires to create an aesthetic and sustainable society. HLF is an environmentally conscious and inclusive festival with a place under the sun for every living being. This year’s festival line-up has established authors alongside emerging authors and poets -Jerry Pinto, Manu S Pillai, Andrew Whithead, Sita Reddy, Kala Ramesh and Serish Nanisetti, among many others.
This year, storytelling is a full-fledged stream. There will be sessions for different age groups, in 6 languages – Telugu, Hindi, English, Konkani, and Malayalam. With the downturn in the economy, HLF turned to the public and invited contributions through its website thus making it a crowd-funded festival. Everyone might not understand or be a literati, therefore HLF hosts several events pertaining to theatre, art, music, cinema and workshops. The HLF Directors list include Ajay Gandhi, Amita Desai, Kinnera Murthy and T Vijaya Kumar. The Hyderabad Literary Festival is free and open to all.