Darjeeling Arts and Literature Festival kicks off

DARJEELING, : The Darjeeling Arts and Literature Festival (DALF) kicked off today at Chowrasta here.

The festival which will continue till November 20 daily from 10 AM to 6 PM will have panel discussions each day along along with book launches, author interactions, signing sessions and film screenings followed by question-and-answer sessions.

Over a period of five day, the festival will feature over 60 authors, filmmakers, actors, publishers among others. Representatives from leading publishing houses including Penguin Random House India, Bloomsbury, Rupa Publications and Om Books International are also participating.

According to the organizers, the initiative aims to provide writers from the region with an opportunity to interact directly with the publishing industry and explore avenues for getting their works published.

Targeting the students, they have invited schools and colleges across the hills to encourage young people to participate in the event. A medical camp and career guidance are also part of the programme along with awareness on child rights and rescue and rehabilitation of women and children.

Sujit Kumar Singh, founder and director of DALF, said, “Darjeeling is the place where I have my early memories. This is the place where I grew up and went to school. The festival is my way of giving back something to the town and its people.”

“We had first thought of bringing in about 25 to 30 authors but after some days the number crossed 60 among which also include authors from this region. Through this event we also want to bring together authors. In the past there have been such cases where an author is felt cheated by a publisher as they did not fulfil their deal. So instead of fighting back with the publishers I felt that we could create such an ecosystem where we support one another and work together,” said Singh adding that through this fest, the publishers and writers could sit together and discuss the manuscripts.