The Dhaka Lit Fest has emerged as a symbiosis between Bangladeshi culture and world literature and an event which can compete with any other festival in the world.
The curtains to the eighth edition of the Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) rise on Thursday at the Bangla Academy grounds.
More than 200 writers, speakers, performers, and thinkers from 15 countries will take part in the three-day-long event with over 90 sessions.
“Through this literary gathering, we have managed to present Bangladesh to the world,” said DLF Director Kazi Anis Ahmed.
“We need to select topics for the sessions attended by the writers from home and abroad while designing the event, which has to be carefully carved out keeping in mind whether it relates to the audience or what they want. There have been instances where we had selected issues which the audience took as a learning experience,” said Kazi Anis, a writer and the publisher of Bangla Tribune and Dhaka Tribune.
Speaking at a discussion on Tuesday organised by Bangla Tribune, he said that selecting the topic, the title and the panel for the sessions has to be taken considering all the facts.
“This whole process is called curating. We, the three directors, handle it apart from taking care of the logistics and getting in touch with the participants. I think it’s the curating of Lit Fest which is behind the success and all the praises from abroad,” said Kazi Anis.
The careful curating is the reason behind the huge audience in sessions, even if in some cases the panellists are not celebrities, he added. “It shows the audience’s interest in literary discussions.”

Moderated by ATN News Chief Executive Editor Munni Saha, the discussion was attended by DLF Directors Sadaf Saaz and Ahsan Akbar, poet Shamim Reza, writer Moinul Ahsan Saber and anthropologist Rashed Rawnak Khan.

The talk-show, held at Bangla Tribune studio, was broadcast live on ATN News and webcast on Bangla Tribune’s site and Facebook page.
With all set for the kick-off the festival, the organisers have already rolled up their sleeves for the next year.
“We have started the process as celebrity writers have a very busy schedule. Several speakers have been already confirmed for the next edition,” said DLF Director Ahsan Akbar.
“We (the directors) have a mutual respect for each other. The directors are involved in the curating. No questions raised by any of us is tossed aside rather we try to find why it came,” he said.
Dhaka Lit Festival aims to gather celebrities from “all levels”, said its Director Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi.
“Last year, Booker Prize winner Ben Okri attended the festival. We had always wanted a thing which spiritually connects the audience ... Ben Okri’s session inspired a lot of people,” he said.
Describing Dhaka Lit Fest as a platform for the youth, Saaz said, “It as a platform for new writers, who may get inspired to attend festivals abroad after attending the Dhaka Lit Fest.”
Criticism against any noble initiative is part of the game, according to poet Shamim Reza.
“There’s a session this year over Bangla literature’s history. Writers in West Bengal consider their work as Bangla literature and it’s similar for writers in Bangladesh. Our ancestors had started it and the Dhaka Lit Fest is playing a key role to bridge that difference,” said Reza, who teaches at the Jahangirnagar University.
The variety of sessions is what fiction writer Moinul Ahsan Saber finds the key attraction of Dhaka Lit Fest.
“Designing so many sessions is a great thing. The panel discussants have their own perspectives, which provide the audience multiple dimensions over single topic,” he said.

Anthropologist Rasheda Rawnak Khan sees Dhaka Lit Fest as symbiosis between two cultures.
“We have our book fair, which solely focuses on the Bangladeshi literature. But a large part of the Lit Fest is translated literature. It creates an opportunity for write," she said.