Hyderabad  January 20, 2014: The fourth edition of the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) will quite literally bring literature, art and culture on to the city streets. According to its organizers, Road No 8, Banjara Hills, which houses most of the festival venues, will be renamed 'Literary Street' during the three-day event. Serious attempts are also being made to pedestrianize the street for the festival, slated to be held between January 24 and 26.

The festival events would be held in five locations - Ashiana, Kalpa School, Saptaparni, Kalakriti Art Gallery and Lamakaan. There will be a 'literary walk' after the inauguration on January 24. Organizers have also arranged for battery-operated buggies for the benefit of elderly participants.

Speaking at a conference to Saturday, HLF coordinators said there would be a quantum leap in the number of events this year. Also, unlike earlier editions of the fest that were confined to academicians and authors, this edition would aim to reach out to a large section of society. "We want to reach out to people from diverse backgrounds and age groups, beyond what a traditional literary fest would," said Amita Desai, one of the organizers. "This is the event the city should identify itself with," added Ajay Gandhi, another HLF committee member.

The literary sessions, to be held mainly at Ashiana, will include talks and interactions with eminent writers such as historian-biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, dancer-activist Mallika Sarabhai, filmmaker Anand Gandhi, SahityaAkademi (2013) award-winners MridulaGarg (Hindi) and SubodhSarkar (Bangla), writer-publisher UrvashiButalia, playwright-film director Mahesh Dattani, novelist GithaHariharan, art historian Jagdish Mittal, Carnatic musician T M Krishna and Bharatanatyam danseuse RajeswariSainath among others.

"Subaltern voices of feminists, dalits and transsexuals, minority discourses and conversations on Bollywood and crime thrillers add to the kaleidoscope of themes to be discussed," said T Vijay Kumar, professor of English, Osmania University.

Other highlights include special events for students like workshops on haiku, creative writing, theatre, book launches and book fair. Writers of more than a dozen national and international languages will be featured at the fest, with Hindi being the Indian language in focus this year. Ireland will be the 'Guest Nation'. Besides three writers from Singapore, there were also be writers from Australia, Germany, UK and the US.