Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026: Here are some highlights from the literary show

The Anil Dharker Session For the Love of WordGodrej Lit Live The Mumbai Lit Fest 2026 opened on a high with an overview by the festival organisers ldquoPoetry precedes prose this yearrdquo stated Amy Fernandes the festrsquos codirector Festival sponsor Nadir Godrejrsquos verses called Mumbai a meeting point of the West and the East ldquoa veritable cultural feastrdquo while Khushroo Suntook chairman of NCPA recalled the literary voices from the city especially ldquothe Bombay poetsrdquo calling them Bombayrsquos now Mumbai gift to literatureJaved AkhtarAt the packed Jamshed Bhabha Theatre during The Anil Dharker Session one witnessed a spirited conversation between poetlyricist Javed Akhtar and translator Sumantra Ghosal on their latest collaborative project Three Masters The Dohas of Kabir Rahim and Vrind HarperCollins India The two gave the audience a masterclass on the composition of dohas and ghazalsldquoThe couplet has a prime place in literaturerdquo Ghosal commented as the duo introduced the doha masters Kabir Rahim and Vrind Akhtar called Kabir lsquothe superstarrsquo ldquoWhen you have nothing to lose you have no fearrdquo he said applauding Kabirrsquos fearlessness towards the establishmentGhosal elaborated on how dohas were once an important part of everyday speech ldquohellipProverbs toordquo Akhtar chimed in ldquoNowadays no one uses itrdquo he lamented adding how the folk language has become urban and lost this connection As Akhtar read the original and Ghosal the English translation we could hear members in the audience whispering the dohas with themMumbai Maketh the ManRatna Pathak Shah and Jerry Pinto announced ldquoWe are both Elphinstoniansrdquo Referring to Pintorsquos Yuri series The Education of Yuri and soontobe released sequel Pathak Shah called it ldquoa letter of love to the college and Bombay the one we grew up inrdquo With a dramatic reading she gave us a slice from the first part based in erstwhile Bombay of the 1980s Pinto spoke about the triggers for the novel mdash how he imagined walking to college and praying that hersquod have a friend ldquoIn school I never had one Everyone beat everyone uprdquo he recalledRatna Pathak Shah and Jerry PintoEventually befriending a fan of Star Comics lent him the idea for a short story which evolved into a novel Pinto remarked what the bildungsroman novels he had read missed pointing out gaps like the emergence of a political and poetic consciousness as a young adult Additionally those books lacked conversations on sex and finance ldquoWhy do novels shrink from money Why donrsquot they show the troubles of itrdquo he asked Pathak Shah agreed ldquoWe have a natural dislike for representing the uncomfortable in artrdquoThe session ended with a conversation on nostalgia in writing and memories of Bombay of the 1990s mdash the riots relief camps and mill strikes all of which make up the background of Pintorsquos upcoming bookThe VoyagerIrwin Allan Sealy was disconcerted when described as a novelist in his introduction ldquoA novel is a form that arose in Europe as a response to a literary conditionrdquo he clarified opening his conversation with Smriti Ravindra author and moderator ldquoI was waiting to find something that was from hererdquo he added When he stumbled upon Akbarnama and Baburnama he was dazzled by the forms and decided to borrow from them giving us The Trotternama his first bookIrwin Allan SealyDuring his session Sealy took the audience on a tour of his book jackets from over the years recalling his illustration on his debut bookrsquos cover Ravindra delved on Sealyrsquos travel writing and of such writing becoming literature They addressed his new work Flying Yoginis from his travels across America and the author read out a prose poem lsquoDeath of Sirirsquo from it to a mesmerised audienceWhen Ravindra prodded Sealy to discuss his evolution as a writer Sealy admitted that one didnrsquot get surer as one grew older but that he had become melancholic As the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award he was asked what such awards meant to him He chuckled ldquoCash validation and a little bit of priderdquoGandhi MattersAs seasoned journalist and editor of Scrollin Naresh Fernandes turned our gaze towards Mahatma Gandhirsquos legacy in the protest marches today historian Ramachandra Guha reflected on his early disciples like Martin Luther King and contemporaries like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel On the biggest debate the GandhiAmbedkar debate Guha emphasised on the need to come to a reconciliation to avoid being further dividedNaresh Fernandes and Ramachandra GuhaGuha argued ldquoFrom Ambedkarrsquos viewpoint Gandhi was going too slow From the point of view of the Hindu conservative Gandhi was going too fast As a historian not a polemist one has to see the wider context of what Gandhi was trying to do He was operating in a deeply conservative castebound society and was juggling several things like pursuing the path of HinduMuslim harmony and committing people to nonviolence as a means of fighting the political battle He wasnrsquot a singleissue reformer Even so on the question of caste from 19191920 Gandhi called untouchability a sin and those who practiced untouchability as the General Dyers of HinduismrdquoThe Shashi Baliga Session We DareWith conflict reporter Harinder Baweja journalist Faye DrsquoSouza and cofounder of the grassroots feminist news network Khabar Lahariya Kavita Bundelkhandi the panel saw the loudest cheers Baweja declared ldquoI donrsquot want to be called a woman journalist I want to be called a good reporterrdquo referring to the book cowritten by her fellow panelist The Good Reporter mdash launched at the eventKavita Bundelkhandi Faye DrsquoSouza and Harinder BawejaBaweja recalled a time when one could do fearless journalism backed by the editor and owner She shared stories from her days covering Operation Blue Star and remembered her editor choosing her because he saw her as a Sikh As a journalist onersquos religion comes later she commented and an understanding of the psychological and sociological impact of violence firstBundelkhandi furthered Bawejarsquos argument by adding how much one carried after reporting ldquoWe are courageous and thatrsquos how we report but itrsquos not like the trauma of witnessing the events doesnrsquot stay with usrdquo To which Baweja nodded ldquoCovering conflict is not an intellectual exercise Some things refuse to leaverdquoThe Choices We MakeThe audience at the book launch of The Audacity of Being discovered a little more of both Shefali Shah the actor and Shefali Shah the writer with moderator journalist and novelist Jane Borges Shah recalled memories of being bullied as a child her days in Gujarati theatre and her preference of the OTT to other mediums since it allowed her time and space to study her characterFrom left Shefali Shah and Jane BorgesBorges noted how celebrity memoirs thrive on scandals and Shahrsquos stood apart as it refrained from it Shah responded ldquoA scandal is only important for so much time then you move on Besides the conversations belong to other people involved and I canrsquot disrespect themrdquo Shah also spoke about her role in Waqt which derailed her career and the roles she was offered To Borgesrsquo comment on how movie business can be particularly hard on a woman Shah responded ldquoMy career has been more about waiting than workingrdquoKoli chroniclesldquoWe are selfsustaining people The city sustains because of usrdquondash Kadambari KoliTandel autoethnographer and member of the Koli community at the Caught in the Nets sessionReaders at the book swap Pics courtesySpecial ArrangementParticipantsrsquo picksldquoShanta Gokhale and Sonali Kulkarnirsquos below conversation was particularly riveting because of the chemistry between them That made the rest of the festival experience so much betterrdquoAadie SldquoSiddhesh Gautamrsquos lines from the session on the power of graphic novels are etched in my mind He said India is a diverse nation we donrsquot have to follow anyone elsersquos lsquoismsrsquo we can create our own and assert our own identityrdquo Bhoomika WadhwanildquoOur favourite moment was Poetry in the Park We didnrsquot know who was going to perform Random strangers across walks of life recited It was a diversity of talent that we hadnrsquot seen beforerdquo Fatima Dasorwala and Sakina AbizerDoc talkldquoWhen it comes to healthcare you canrsquot be on the fence Itrsquos important to get the right word out hence a public voice is importantrdquo ndash Cyriac Abby Philip author of The Liver Doctor at The Doctor Is In sessionWinnersgtgt Book of the Year ndash NonFiction The Hindi Heartland by Ghazala Wahab Alephgtgt Best First Book ndash Fiction Good Arguments by Deepika Arwind Simon amp Schustergtgt Best First Book ndash NonFiction Wild Wild East by Tanul Thakur Westlandgtgt Business Book of the Year Running Behind Lakshmi by Adil Rustomjee Hachettegtgt Publisher of the Year Westland Books