Mangaluru, Oct 30: A literary festival on the'Idea of Bharat, christened 'Mangaluru Lit Fest 2018', will be organised in the city from November 3 to 6.
The festival is an attempt to showcase the ancient Indian wisdom of peace, brotherhood and universal well-being through intellectual discourse by the finest literary minds from across the country, the convenor of the event Sriraj Gudi told reporters here Tuesday.
The festival intends to provide a platform for intellectual deliberations for monologues, panel discussions, conversations, book reviews, symposiums and book exhibition on'The Idea of Bharat,' Gudi said.
Saraswati Samman awardee Padmasree S L Byrappa willbe felicitated with the lifetime achievement award during the festival for his immense contribution towards literature, he said.
The patrons of the festival are Nitte Education Trust chairman N Vinaya Hegde, Taranga weekly executive editor Sandhya Pai and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP.
The Lit Fest aims to highlight the literary andcultural diversity of Mangaluru, which is blessed with vibrant multi-cultural ethos with very colourful annual festivities including Kambala, Kola and Yakshagana, Gudi said.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bengaluru: Pan India Actor Kishore Kumar has criticised what he calls an attempt to use the national song Vande Mataram for political gain by dividing people on religious lines.
On Thursday, he posted on Facebook a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking in the Lok Sabha, with the caption ‘Jai Shri Ram to Vande Mataram.’ In his post, Kishore said the song, which once energised the freedom movement and united people across India, was now being turned into a tool for political advantage.
ALSO READ: Bangladesh to vote on February 12, first poll after PM Hasina's ouster
He wrote that expressions once used to welcome others with love were being taken over and converted into war cries and weapons of hatred, especially against Muslims. Just as this shift happened, he said, those in power who had no role in the freedom struggle and had no hesitation in selling what true patriots created, were now trying to appropriate a song used by freedom fighters.
Kishore also said many serious issues such as the falling value of the rupee, the state of the economy, weakening democratic institutions, what he called false GDP claims, unfulfilled promises to farmers, healthcare challenges, unemployment, situations in Manipur and Ladakh, and the arrests of scientists and scholars were being ignored.
According to him, the government had shown that it was unable to deal with real problems. He said their only approach now was to divide people and distract them, expressing his frustration over the current political climate.
