The two-day Kumaon literature festival- Himalayan Echoes 2020 – will start in its digital avatar from Saturday. For the last four years, writers have been participating in this festival in Nainital. But this year due to Covid-19, it was decided to hold the festival virtually.
This year will be the 5th edition of the festival mentored by Namita Gokhale, advised by Kapil Dhawan and Saif Mahmood and directed by Janhavi Prasada.
Janhavi Prasada, festival director, who is also the founder of the Nainital Book Club said this year the theme of the festival is ‘Mountain Paths’.
“Each of us has a mountain to conquer and what better way to express it than listening to mountain minds speak from their heart in Covid times. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival will be held online this year on social media platforms,” she said.
She said the endeavour of the festival is to encourage authors, poets and other creative minds to enhance “our vision, our minds with their voices, their writings”.
The two-day festival will have various sessions, ranging from the culture of Uttarakhand, the legacy of leaders that shaped the history of India, growing up in Nainital, environmental conservation, climate change to wellness, Ayurveda, fitness and sustainable business solutions and organic produce.
Prasada said the main speakers in the festival this year are Anuradha Roy, an award-winning writer, Prof Makarand Paranjape, author and director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla, Shekhar Pathak, historian, Dr Alka Pande, art historian, Pritam Bhatty, cheesemaker from Mukteshwar, Shagun Khanna, wellness expert, Suhel Seth, CEO Counselage, a branding and marketing consultancy, Sharon Prabhakar actor-singer and motivational speaker, and debutant author Priyanka Pradhan.
