Rainbow Lit Fest: The First Ever Literature Festival For Queer Will Broaden The Horizon Of Identity

This winters, Rainbow Lit Fest, the First Queer & Inclusive: A first-of-its-kind literature festival comes to Delhi bringing it to you an amalgamation of different forms of expression where over 75 exponents of prose, poetry, art, music, dance and cinema will be at the helm of the show. The fest is due for Saturday and Sunday - December 7 and 8, 2019, at Gulmohar Park Club, New Delhi, India.

The festival has been conceptualized by Sharif D. Rangnekar (Festival Director), the author of Straight To Normal - My Life As A Gay Man, a book released earlier this year, the first memoir since the reading down of Section 377 last September. It is co-presented by a platform Rangnekar curates - Embrace: Music Justice Arts and the Creative Director, Pankaj Malhotra's event firm - Epic India.

Appended Discussion Points For Your Reference

• 'Patriarch + the hetero-normative: Living in a majoritarian world' hosted by Anjali Gopalan, Maya Sharma, Shobhana Warrier in conversation with Anuradha Sengupta

• 'Even we exist - Identities within the queer world' hosted by Kumam Davidson, Dhrubo Jyoti and Rafiul Alom Rahman in conversation with Sameer Chopra

• 'Are they counted: The life of lesbians' hosted by A Conversation between Maya Sharma and Damini of HT

• 'Drag Talk' - A Performance by Avatari Devi

• 'Discussion on When They First Marched With Pride - Celebrating the first such march in Indian history' with the three co-organisers - Owais Khan, Rafiquel Dowjah, Ashok Row Kavi and Pawan Dhall, in conversation with Sandip Roy

• 'Understanding the world of trans-people' - Zainab Patel, Aryan Pasha and Rudrani Chettri in conversation with Koninika Roy

• 'Feminism'- Urvashi Butalia

• 'Oh queer, are you feminine?' Hosted by Gopi Shankar, Bhuwan Khaturia, Rituporna Borah and Rudrani Chettri in conversation with Sonal Kalra

• Sex as work, love in sex: How society wishes to see things, the rights and wrongs of it!- Meena Seshu, Simran Shaikh, Aisha Rai in conversation with Aarti Pai

• Does it take two to tango? How queerness relates to 'relationships' - Shivraj Prashad, Akanksha Singh and Rudrani Chettri in conversation with Adrija Bose of News18.com

• Fighting the law: The battle against Section 377 - Anjali Gopalan, Ashok Row Kavi and Anand Grover in conversation with Vivek Divan

The Fest will be addressed by notable authors, filmmakers and activists, other than those on the advisory committee, such as Devdutt Pattnaik, Nandita Das, Nemat Sadat and Onir, among several other distinguished personalities.

Panel discussions and talks will be interspersed with screenings of iconic films like U for Usha by Rohan Kanwade, the Konkona Sen-starrer - Monsoon Date by Tanuja Chandra, I Am Sanjo by Jijo Kuriakose and the most-awarded silent LGBT silent film, Sisak by Faraz Ansari.

In addition, there would be dance performances, a puppet show, a drag act and three music performances by the Traditional Nizami Brothers, the 12-member Manzil Mystics and arguably the most diverse rock band in the country - 'The Original Knock-Offs'.