Shillong, Nov 11: Shillong is ready to read, listen and dream again.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma will open the 6th Shillong Lit Fest at Wards Lake on Thursday, November 12, for three days of books, ideas and conversations.
Headlining this year are Booker Prize winners Kiran Desai and Damon Galgut, along with Padma Shri Hally War and writers from Meghalaya and beyond. New books by Daniel Challam, Rudy Warjri, Sanjoy Hazarika, Yadawanka Pala, Streamlet Dkhar and Bijoya Sawian will also be launched.
Since 2021, the festival, rooted in Khasi, Jaintia and Garo storytelling, has hosted over 293 speakers. This time, there is a special Children’s & Youth Corner with storytelling, puppetry, pottery, origami, zine-making, music, open mic, face painting and a Doodle Arena.
The celebrations begin a day early with ‘The Farewell Letter’, a dramatised reading of Tagore’s ‘Shesher Kobita’, the love story set in Shillong, on Wednesday evening.
Come to the lake. The stories are waiting.
