Chennai is gearing up to host The Hindu’s annual literature festival Lit for Life during the Pongal weekend. This year, the fest will commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Hindu’s literature supplement, Literary Review.

Lit for Life, a one-evening event way back in 2010 when it was conceptualised, has now grown into a three-day event filled with discussions, workshops and exhibitions, all related to books and literature.

Dr Nirmala Lakshman, Festival Director and Curator, says that the Lit for Life is an attempt at connecting literature to the masses. “LFL reflects the spirit of the times and celebrates free speech and expression. The idea is to connect literature to the masses and so, both in terms of curation and execution; it is as inclusive as possible. It is almost a decade since we started LFL and we are extremely happy with how it has evolved. We will have to up the ante for the 10th edition,” she adds.

The festival will also see the awarding of The Hindu Prize which is given to recognise Indian writing in fiction. This year, a new category -- Non-Fiction -- has been added to the award and the winners for both the categories will be announced on January 13. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5,00,000 each, a trophy and a citation.The Hindu Young world Goodbooks Awards will also be presented at the festival

Children will also be given their due share of merriment in the fest-- The Hindu Lit For Life Children’s Fest. Introduced in 2017, the Children’s Fest comprises workshops on science, reading, storytelling, theatre etc. This year, interactive sessions with authors of children’s books have also been scheduled over and above the existing sessions.

Some of the confirmed speakers at this year’s Lit for Life are Arun Shourie, Audrey Truschke, S Peter Alphonse, Kanimozhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, Sanjay Pinto, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Jonathan Gil Harris. The full list of speakers is yet to be released by The Hindu.