New Delhi, 10 June 2022 – The Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Sahitya Akademi are organizing Unmesha, an International Literature Festival in Shimla from 16 to 18 June 2022 as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations with the support of Department of Art and Culture, Government of Himachal Pradesh. 

The festival will be organised in the heritage buildings, the Gaiety Heritage Cultural complex and the Town Hall, in the Ridge, Shimla. The Inaugural session will take place in the main auditorium of Gaiety Theatre on 16^th June, 2022 from 11.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon wherein Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi Ministers of State for Culture and Governor of Andhra Pradesh Biswa Bhusan Harichandan will grace the occasion.

Literature of any country represents and reflects culture of that country. Literary Festivals bring out these reflections and representations in all colours and flavours. Further, Literary Festivals bring together great minds of the land and offers once in a life-time opportunity for many young and aspiring writers and literary lovers of the region where the literary festival is held. That is the reason why the Ministry of Culture and Sahitya Akademi are organizing this Festival. With over 425 writers, poets, translators, critics and distinguished personalities from various walks of life from 15 countries including India, representing over 60 languages and 64 events, Unmesha International Literature Festival is the largest literature festival in the country. 

The festival will feature discussions, presentations, poetry and story readings, performances etc, covering a wide range of topics such as “Cinema & Literature,” “World Classics & Indian Writing,” “Tribal Writings,” “Writings of LGBTQ community of India,” “Media & Literature,” “Bhakti Literature” & “Uniting Cultures through Translation.” The evenings will feature cultural performances – Bharatanatyam by Sonal Mansingh, Tala Vadya Kacheri by P. Jayabhaskar, Nagara by Nathulal Solanki and Dastan-e-Karn, Dastangoi by Mahmood Farooqui. 

Some of the distinguished personalities participating in the festival are Sonal Mansingh, Gulzar, S. L. Bhyrappa, Chandrashekhar Kambar, Kiran Bedi, Linda Hess, Daniel Negers, Surjit Patar, Namita Gokhale, Kapil Kapoor, Arif Mohammad Khan, Raghuveer Chaudhari, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Vishwas Patil, Ranjit Hoskote, Gitanjali Shree, Sai Paranjpye, Deepti Naval, Malashri Lal, Sudarshan Vashishtha, Pratyoosh Guleri, S.R. Harnot, Hoshang Merchant, Leeladhar Jagoori, Arun Kamal, Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Satish Alekar and Vishnu Dutt Rakesh. 

The event is free for the public on all the days and during the festival, there will be a display of about 1000 books related to the Indian freedom movement and the publications of five Indian publishers will be for sale.