The Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet was today kicked off at the lawns of the iconic Victoria Memorial here with a group of students from Kabul university performing Rabindranath Tagore's 'Kabuliwala' in Pashto language.
The six-day event, which coincides with Jaipur Literature Festival, was formally inaugurated by Dada Saheb Phalke Soumitra Chatterjee and noted litterateur Samaresh Majumdar.
Barring a few, all the sessions of the lit meet would be held at the Victoria Memorial complex.
Interestingly, one of the discussions would take place on a boat journey on the river Ganges.
Acclaimed novelist Amitav Ghosh, of 'The Hungry Tide', 'Sea of Poppies', 'River of Smoke' fame will participate in a session on 'Sea, River and Flood'.
The festival is focused on theme of India this year and would therefore feature discussions on the "rising intolerance" in the country.
Altogether over 100 speakers including renowned authors Ruskin Bond, Nayantara Sahgal, Amish Tripathi, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra will take part in the discussions.
Adding to the glam quotient of the festival, iconic actress Sharmila Tagore alongwith Tabu, Zoya Akhtar, Nandana Sen and Rahul Bose set to grace the event.
