For a Fest Thrift
With the softening of the sunrays and the cooling of the breeze, the lit-fest season is on. From the balmy beaches of Goa to the gentle slopes of Thimphu, via Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kasauli, Calcutta, Shillong, Kathmandu, the happy melange of readers, writers, publishers, agents and freeloaders will be on their toes the next few months. But a litfest veteran says one of the first ones to kick off was quite disastrous. The sessions got all muddled up, the authors were fuming, the panelists were clueless, audiences were thin (‘in some sessions there were more people on the dais than below’) and organisers nowhere to be seen. Hope this virus will be contained.
Answer Held Back
There have been reports that former PM Manmohan Singh is writing a tell-all book to counter the tell-all books of his media advisor Sanjaya Baru, his party colleague Natwar Singh and the former CAG Vinod Rai, which in parts portrayed him as spineless and indecisive. But a top publisher says it is not true. He has been in touch with Singh’s office and family, and says even if he does write a book it will not be political but about his journey as a poor student to the country’s top job.
Code of Dan
It’s a big coup by Penguin. Dan Brown, yes, the same, of The Da Vinci Code, will be giving their annual lecture. Last year, it was Amitabh Bachchan and the crowds had spilled over from the stadium. Will Brown see signs in the Taj or clues in the Khajuraho pillars to base a thriller in India?
