“It is a literary weekend, not a festival”. “We are bending over backwards to emphasise the informal feel.” “There are no megastar writers.” The organisers of Lekhana, Bangalore’s first literary weekend, seem to intentionally want to distance themselves from the Jaipur Literature Festival and the many clones it has spawned. Over the past couple of years there has been an explosion of festivals in the literary firmament. Ashok Banker, author of the popular Ramayana series, recently wrote that over the past few years “an astonishing sum of 143 invites appears to have filled my inbox.” (all of which he turned down). And of course, this year’s edition of the Jaipur festival hit the headlines for the author who did not or could not come rather than for those who did. So perhaps it is just as well that Lekhana has chosen not to go down that path.

<p><table width='100%' border=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 18px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #0253B7;'>In other words</td></tr><tr><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 11px; '>At Lekhana, Bangalore

In other words

At Lekhana, Bangalores first literary weekend, the focus is on city writers and regional languages rather than on building a celebrity quotient by flying in star writers

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