In an age of ever improving visual effects, visual mediums have been quite successful in capturing a wide range of stirring creative ideas that earlier could not be brought to life from those vivid imaginations inked in the pages. However, apart from visual effects, can screen adaptations truly capture the subtle nuances of text? What is the nature and limitation of the both written space and the visual space?

Patriarchy, in which men hold primary power, predominate in the roles of political leadership, moral authority, special privilege and control of the property, is quite prevalent in India, and seems to be a formidable and dangerous obstacle towards realization of an egalitarian and just society. In India, it’s impossible to deal with patriarchy by ignoring the intersectionality where the oppressive systems of gender and caste hierarchy coincide. What are the challenges that contemporary feminist writers face today? What are the most pressing problems related to gender and caste that are emerging from today’s society?How to make feminist movements in India more inclusive and all encompassing? Why are still so many women reluctant to be called a feminist? How to deal with misogyny,abuse,and threats faced by women daily on social media websites for voicing their opinions?

In a world moving further away from its roots every day, myths and folklores have been reduced from traditional tales answering overarching questions about life and fictional literature about people and animals to mere fragments of bedtime stories. At other times, they may be blown out of proportion such that they are seen as nothing short of reality itself. However, these two elements are the lifeblood of various cultures and are passed down from one generation to the next in the form of oral heirloom. Come explore the undulating lands rich with culture beliefs that exist in the world painted by mythology and folklore with Ms. Kavita Kane- a renowned journalist, columnist , scriptwriter and author of several books stemming from Indian Mythology.

“Welcome to the age of images. The signs are everywhere- for those who can read them”. History has been written, painted, sketched and spoken. Art has learnt to speak: through magic realism, abstractions and more. Art has also learned to resist: while some paint vibrant greens and reds of revolution, some fragile hands draw volatile worlds and their cataclysms that continue to scourge our masks of affectation. This panel draws on the conflicts that ignite micro-movements, as did, the journey of art, to making it to activism. This panel also serves to understand ‘space’ in an artist’s mind, is it ideological, gendered, or simply, a narrative, an amalgamation of colours that speak ‘realities’?

Stifling of voices of writers, artists, scholars and intellectuals is an oft-adopted tactic to silence dissenting opinions and assertions of the marginalized. There is an apparent hidden as well as an overt form of censorship and its pressure is felt across all mediums of art and literature isn’t an exception. Banning of books and threatening of artists isn’t new, so how are things different than before? What ‘s the experience like for a writer today when the list of things one can talk about is shrinking every other day? Has self-censorship become a norm? Is dissent through literature still possible? Are the legal provisions in India responsible for this increasing curtailment of free speech?

Present day bookshops often boast of shelves filled with works in translation in order to attract as diverse a footfall as possible. But then, we must not shy away from asking questions such as what is the impact of translation on literature? How are the nuances and essence of one language to be preserved in this metamorphosis? When literature changes hands, what are the consequences of the same for narration- the component which relies heavily on the language used? Moreover, can translation of poetry and prose cause a rift between what was intended to be conveyed and what the reader comprehends? Lastly, what happens when the society at large is threatened by monolingualism at the hands of a language that is put on the pedestal of a social class? Come explore such arenas with us in TISS Literature Festival 2018.