The 16th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival set to inspire and illuminate Kolkata's literary scene

The grand unveiling of sixteenth edition of the renowned Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF) took place amidst the timeless elegance of an iconic bookstore on bustling Park Street in Kolkata. The event was graced by an illustrious panel of dignitaries including Abhijit Banerjee, Winner of the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Anuradha Lohia, Scientist and Former Vice Chancellor, Presidency University, Cheyenne Olivier, Illustrator of the book Chhaunk and others. The air was filled with excitement and anticipation as the literary world gathered in celebration of words and ideas, setting the stage for an unforgettable festival that promises to ignite minds and inspire souls.
Highlighting the AKLF curtain raiser announcement was the exclusive launch of Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee’s Chhaunk: On Food, Economics and Society. The author and illustrator, Cheyenne Olivier were in discussion with Anuradha Lohia.
The festival is scheduled to take place from January 10-12, 2025. Allen Park will serve as the central hub, hosting the majority of the events.

AKLF 2025 boasts an impressive lineup of speakers, with more than 120 writers gracing the festival. Notable names include Akhil Katyal, Akshat Gupta, Dr. Alka Pande, Anand Neelakantan, Anuja Chandramouli, Anita Agnihotri, Ankita Konwar, Aparna Vaidik, Arunava Sinha, Ashis Nandy, Ashis Ray, Chinmoy Guha, Devi Kar, Ira Mukhoty, Jael Silliman, Jayanta Sengupta, Kunal Basu, M K Raina, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Milind Soman, Monideepa Banerjie, Neelima Adhar Dalmia, Neha Dixit, Nusrat F Jafri, Pinaki De, Prayaag Akbar, Rajdeep Sardesai, Ramachandra Guha, Rana Safvi, Ruchir Joshi, Sagarika Ghose, Salil Tripathi, Samar Jodha, Samrat Choudhury, Sandip Roy, Shabnam Minwalla, Shalini Modi, Shehnaz Treasury, Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan, Shobhaa De, Sudeep Chakravarti, Sugata Bose, Sumantra Ghoshal, Sunita Kohli, William Dalrymple, Ila Arun, Nitish Bhushan, Priyanka S Kaintura and Riddhi Bahl among others.