Bengaluru: Despite the Bangalore Literature Fest organiser Vikram Sampath quitting amid a row over his ‘award wapsi’ article, the organisers pulled up their socks to get the festival ready for the writers and book-lovers. Steering past the whole 'award wapsi' controversy, the organisers are now focusing on last minute preparations to set the things in place for the much awaited two day event.
“There is a lot of heavy lifting to do. Thankfully, we started preparing for this year's BLF right after the 2014 BLF ended, particularly on things like thinking-through, conversations and dialogues. We are now looking at other logistics which include, hospitality, venue infrastructure, food and beverages and other such issues,” says co-founder Srikrishna Ramamoorthy.
Speaking about Vikram’s absence Srikrishna adds, “Each year sees challenges of a different kind, however, we never imagined that we would have to experience a challenge such as this and it reflected the mood of the country and his decision made sense.” The two-day event which starts on December 5 has been a haven for book-lovers, writers and bibliophiles alike and the organisers are leaving no stone unturned to maintain that essence of the festival alive. “We need to keep at this and there is no looking back. We have been able to get the support of many eminent people from the city and plenty of authors have confirmed their participation,” says Srikrishna.
Speaking about Vikram calling quits as the organiser, Srikrishna says, “It was definitely a tough time and we had a very hard conversation that all of us had to have and was not a desired decision but given the circumstances prevailing we had to take this step. We came to realise that an institution is more important than an individual and the festival was getting impacted by these sentiments and hence it all made sense. We are not trying to fill Vikram's shoes and won't but we are now concentrating on the logistics that make our festival unique including hospitality.
The two-day festival will witness host of discussions and debates.
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