Hay Festival in Dhaka

The one-day Hay Literary Festival bringing together writers and thinkers from Bangladesh and Britain to share stories and ideas in the spirit of Rabindranath Tagore, in the 150th year of his birth, will be held at the British Council on Fuller Road, Dhaka, today. The main sponsor of the festival is The Daily Star, with Jatrik as project partner and the British Council as global partner.
Among those who will participate at the festival include Professor Fakrul Alam, Professor Niaz Zaman, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor Firdous Azim, Professor Kaiser Haq, and novelists Selina Hossain, Andrew Miller, Tiffany Murray, Shazia Omar, John Gower and Tahmima Anam.
Also present, among others, will be journalists Lorna Bradbury and Mahfuz Anam, columnist Farah Ghuznavi, storyteller Jan Blake, Hay Festival Director Peter Florence, British Council Literature Director Susanna Nicklin, cultural activist Lubna Marium and teaching artist Naila Azad.
The Hay Festival, to be inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University, Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique at 9 am, will include readings by and from writers, question-answer sessions and discussions. It will draw to a close at 5:30 p.m.
Entry to the festival is free. Visitors can pre-register at hayfestival.org/Dhaka and their tickets will be available for collection before or at the festival. More inquiries can be made through e-mail at [email protected].