11th Edition of Pune International Literary Festival to be held on December 16 and 17 

 The 11th edition of the Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) , Pune city’s own first and best litfest which focuses on holistic, integrated, quality content and speakers will take place this year on the weekend of December 16th & 17th at YASHADA on Baner Road, Pune. 

The festival is being presented by Dr. Manjiri Prabhu, acclaimed English novelist and the festival Director, Pune-based company ‘Celebrite Media’ with support from Thermax and Forbes Marshall along with a few other esteemed partners. Entry to the festival is free. 

This year in PILF : 

80+ Speakers and 70+ sessions will be taking place in three different halls on the YASHADA campus which also includes a special Children’s Stream titled ‘Treasure Island’- a friendly space for children and young adults, sponsored by Forbes Marshall. 

The basic objective of the Pune International Festival (PILF) is to facilitate a direct connect between the authors and the readers and to create an inspirational platform for all creative people – at all levels of their careers, thereby promoting the culture of knowledge-based reading and learned appreciation of various arts and craft. 

Our underlying focus is ‘Reading as a part of our Culture and as a lifeline’ We are happy to invite Authors and Speakers from Austria, Germany and Canada as a result of PILF’s partnership with the Salzburg Global Seminar and Max Mueller Bhawan. 

There is a unique Mystery Room where the audience gets to play detective and solve a mystery, which would help increase deductive and analytical skills. 

The inauguration will be at the hands of Mrs. Anu Aga, Dr. Manjiri Prabhu and 5 young children, from different institutes like Light House, iteachschools. The intention is to involve and absorb more and more students into the culture of reading and writing. That is why this year PILF will also feature some Young Authors. 

In the session ‘Young Voices, Fresh Perspectives Children Authors’, young authors from age group of 8 to 18 years will be presenting their work.

 The speakers for PILF come from backgrounds like Economics, Political Thinking, Police, Intelligence, AI, Bollywood, Justice, Spirituality, Culture, Animal & Human Rights, Publishing, Army and much more. 

The galaxy of esteemed speakers comprises the following: 

1. Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar (Scientist) 

2. Sanjeev Sanyal (Advisor to the PM) 

3. Mugdha Sinha (Ministry of Culture) 

4. Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan 5. Gauranga Darshan Das (ISKCON & UN Awarded Govardhan Ecovillage) 

6. Dr. Manjiri Prabhu 

7. Yatindra Mishra (Poet & Biographer of Lata Mangeshkar and Gulzar) Pune International Literary Festival 2023 2/2 

8. Rajeev Bhargava (Political Thinker) 

9. Vivek Sood (Sr. Advocate and Author) 

10. Amod Kanth (Social activist, Expolice) 11. Dr. Alka Pande (Author, Art Historian) 12. Gopinath Chandra Das (A life coach and motivational speaker, ISKCON) 

13. Gajra Kottary (Film and TV Writer) 

14. Smriti Dewan (Screenwriter and Asst. Director to Kaun Banega Crorepati) 

15. Vaibhav Purandare (Senior Editor TOI, Author of Savarkar) 

16. Sushil Borde (Head Innovation at Reliance) 

17. Rajiv Mehrotra (Trustee Dalai Lama Foundation) 

18. Vishwas Patil (Noted Marathi Author) 

19. Arunava Sinha (Veteran translator) 20. Manju Jaidka (Sahitya Academy award winning author) 

21. Sohini RoyChowdhary (international Bharatnatyam dancer)

 22. Tomer Gardi (German Author) 

23. Christopher Kloeble (German Author) 

24. Priyanka Sinha Jha 

25. Piyush Jha (Director & Author) 

26. Ganesh Natarajan 27. Gopinath Chandra Das 28. Kulpreet Yadav 29. Uday Kulkarni (Historian) 30. Ajit Menon 31. Aditi Maheshwari (Vani Prakashan) 32. Sriram Karri 33. Gul Hinduja 34. Vandana Saxena Poria 35. Satyarth Nayak 36. Roshmila Bhattacharya 37. Rashmi Uchil 38. Sidharth Jain 39. Neelesh Kulkarni 40. Kainaz Jussawala 41. Salil Desai, 42. Poorva Joshipura (Director -PETA), 43. Ajay Mankotia 

Forbes Marshall Presents ‘Treasure Island’, the children’s section has these enticing sessions: 1. The Unheard Voices of Mundhwa : Stories of Endurance and Survival A book that voices the struggles, sufferings, and resistance of underprivileged humans, written by 45 children.(Empathetic Humans) 2. Let’s Wow Our Audience! – (Storytelling Workshop) Shilpa Mehta and Amrit Nagpal 3. Heart, Mind and the Vedas – Gauranga Darshan Das, (ISKCON & Govardhan Ecovillage) 4. ‘Prince with a brush and Treasure Trove of Timeless Tales’ – Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan (Author, Poet and Voice-Over Artist) 5. Understanding Yoga – Gopinath Chandra Das Prabhu, (A motivational speaker, ISKCON) 6. Read with the Doggie (Animal Therapy and Dogs) – Minal Kavishwar and her dog 7. Be A Good Leader – Author Pranay (mystic philosopher) 8. One Habit a Day – Ashdin Doctor (The ‘Habit Coach’) 

9. Unveiling the magic of Anokha Pitara – Poems and stories by Devyani Mungali 

10. Less is More! Learn Haiku with Mona Verma 11. Dramebazz – Workshop on Drama by Pooja Upganlawar and Radhika Bagdai Pune International Literary Festival 2023 3/2 

12. Money Magic – Rishi Pipariya (Wealth Management Expert) A simple, fun and educational session to teach the basics of money and financial planning to children, ages 10 to 14. 

13. Launch of ‘Ramayana’ – by Dr. Alka Pande (Author, Art Historian & Curator of Museums) 

14. Young Voices, Fresh Perspectives – Readings by 8 children authors

 15. From Cradle to Classics: Building a Foundation for Lifelong Reading (Panel Discussion)- Renu Agarwal, Vrushali Barbare, Hema Gehani moderated by Mona Verm

Everyone is requested to refer to the schedule being published on the website www.pilf.in to choose sessions of their preference. 

We hope that Punekars will come in large numbers to this free festival and soak in the creative and literary energy of the event. We wish to emphasise here that we do not have any media partners in print, broadcast, electronic or any other form and request to give ample publicity to the festival.