India’s only festival dedicated to all forms of literature on the environment promises to be a fiesta for nature lovers

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Green Literature Festival is celebrating its first offline annual event at the Bangalore International Centre on December 18.

The day will begin with an address by the renowned author and environmental historian Mahesh Rangarajan on the ‘Joys of Writing on the Environment’ followed by sessions delving into everything from the art of nature filmmaking to conserving habitats.

Prof Harini Nagendra, Author and Faculty at Azim Premji University, Masood Mallick, CEO Re Sustainability and Abi T Vanak of ATREE will offer fresh perspectives on the climate crisis that allow for hope amidst gloom, while the young climate activists of Fridays for Future, Disha Ravi, Tamanna Sengupta and Sriranjini Raman will offer a peak into how reading opens doors to nature for young people at the frontiers of the environmental movement.

For those interested in handson activities, author and editor Bijal Vachharajani will conduct a workshop on Nature Writing for children and parents, while the much-loved cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty will help participants Solve a Crime Scene with Adventurer, Sleuth, Mongoose Naturalist Ruddy.

The festival also includes a not-to-bemissed special edition of WWFIndia’s Wild Wisdom Quiz and live music. As a festival dedicated to green literature, the highlight of the day will be the GLF HONOUR BOOK AWARDS, the only awards in India that exclusively celebrate writing on the environment in three categories: business, general fiction and non-fiction, and children.

This year’s shortlists include books by Ranjit Hoskote, Pranay Lal, Mridula Ramesh, Savita Hiremath, Mukund Rajan, Col. Rajeev Kumar, Kavitha Iyer, Akshay Manwani, Bijal Vachharajani and Rohan Chakravarty. All the books curated by the festival for its awards would be available for browsing and sale at the venue, alongside other curated reads.