It's mid-November. And the ever-so-slight nip in the air is reason enough for Mumbaikars to go out and attend events that enliven the city's cultural and literary scene during this time of the year. Back with its eighth edition, Tata Literature Live! commences tomorrow with an array of panel discussions, book releases and debates that form the mainstay of the four-day event. Regulars at the lit fest are also familiar with the line-up of performances that celebrate the written word on the stage.

Frank O'Connor is often called an unlikely biographer for his work, The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution 

This year, however, in the words of Quasar Thakore Padamsee, the organisers were quite lucky. "The idea behind all the performance pieces is that the audiences of Mumbai should get to see work they don't ordinarily have the opportunity to," says the theatre director, who has curated the performances for the lit fest. "This time, we have plays from Ireland and London based on the life and works of renowned writers, a performance by a Swiss author who prefers to call himself a narrator, and a story told through the lens of mathematics by two scholars, which all bring the written word to life in unique ways. A spoken word performance is part of the line-up as well," he adds.