There is No Pressure in Selecting Authors or Books: VLF

Vidarbha Literary Festival (VLF) denies allegations of writer selection pressure, with an annual event in February. Controversial author sessions were canceled for ideological reasons.

on Oct 13, 2023

There is No Pressure in Selecting Authors or Books: VLF | Frontlist

The Vidarbha Literary Festival (VLF) has denied any pressure on the selection of writers or books, as claimed by three former members who left the organisation shortly after the festival.

In February, there is an annual event.

There were rumours that the sessions of authors Aakar Patel, Shivam Shankar Singh, Josy Joseph, and Shruti Ganapatye had been cancelled due to pressure on VLF organisers. These authors criticise the government and a particular ideology.

Sukhadhary, a curator at the February event, festival director Pawan Sarda, and organising team member Ruta Dharmadhikari had just declared their separation from the literary organisation due to ideological differences and pressure from a number of people.

VLF secretary Sachin Jahagirdar and recently appointed co-chairman Dilip Kamdar denied any pressure on them during an unusual press briefing before the VLF's monthly session on Saturday. Kamdar was not a member of the core crew, but he volunteered and served as a moderator in the previous two VLF editions.

The news conference is being viewed as a kind of damage management after the three lawmakers resigned. In general, VLF holds press conferences in advance of significant events such as the yearly festival. On Saturday, VLF will feature Nagpur-based cartoonist and novelist Rohan Chakravarty in a discussion moderated by English professor Prantik Banerjee at Persistent Systems Auditorium, IT Park.

"It is a natural process," Jahagirdar explained. People pass through. It's an eight-month-old problem. Following their departure, we staged two events. There was no pressure today or yesterday."

"The VLF was founded in 2020," Kamdar explained. Its goal is simple: to bring renowned authors and notable literature to Nagpur so that people can interact with them. There may be some churning in organizations like this, but there is no compulsion on any of us to nominate books or authors we want here."

"We started this year with a book on Shivaji Maharaj," Kamdar remarked. Now we're trying something new and bringing a son of the soil (Chakravarty). "We want to present people with a variety of literary genres."