Fourth edition of the Green Literature Festival (GLF) to be held in Bengaluru

The festival, which has hosted more than 50 authors, filmmakers and photographers since its inception, seeks to be a discovery platform in the environmental space. In addition to focusing on both children’s and adult eco literature, GLF will also have sessions focusing on green businesses. Also, “this year, we are bringing in the teachers,” he says, adding that there will also be a 90-minute session run by one of the world’s leading child education activists, Matthew Pye, titled Bringing Climate Education Into The Classroom. Pye, who will be conversing with writer Jenny Pinto, will talk about offering a holistic climate education to children in the classroom and teaching teachers to become climate evangelists, says Paramanand. “The focus is to move from anxiety to hope. If you make children anxious about all this, it is not going to work.”

The fourth edition of the Green Literature Festival (GLF), the country’s only literary festival dedicated entirely to all things environment, will be held in Bengaluru on Saturday, December 7, at the Century Club, Cubbon Park, from 9.30 a.m. onwards. The festival, first launched in June 2021 as “a response to the urgent need for literature that helps us comprehend our relationship with the planet, mend the broken bits, promote love and care for the climate through positive climate action,” as the event release puts it, “promises to be a fiesta for eco-enthusiasts, nature lovers and readers of all ages and tastes.”

This year’s lineup comprises around 30 speakers, several stalls on sustainable products, workshops by WWF-India, Mongabay India and leading storytellers and writers, an awards evening and, for the first time, an all-day-long children’s green fest. “Until last year, it was two or three sessions (focused on children),” says Benedict Paramanand, GLF’s founder. “Now it’s like multiple sessions between 10 and 4, and we have one venue dedicated to the children. We just thought the children’s segment needed much more focus,” adds Paramanand, also the founder of the Bangalore Business Literature Festival and the sustainability online platform SustainabilityNext.

The festival, which has hosted more than 50 authors, filmmakers and photographers since its inception, seeks to be a discovery platform in the environmental space. In addition to focusing on both children’s and adult eco literature, GLF will also have sessions focusing on green businesses. Also, “this year, we are bringing in the teachers,” he says, adding that there will also be a 90-minute session run by one of the world’s leading child education activists, Matthew Pye, titled Bringing Climate Education Into The Classroom. Pye, who will be conversing with writer Jenny Pinto, will talk about offering a holistic climate education to children in the classroom and teaching teachers to become climate evangelists, says Paramanand. “The focus is to move from anxiety to hope. If you make children anxious about all this, it is not going to work.”

Some of the other key panel discussions taking place this year include The Nilgiris in Focus: A Conservationist’s Nightmare with writer and regeneration ecologist Vasanth Bosco, conservationist Dr. Tarsh Thekaekara and independent writer and editor Monisha Raman; Environmental News: Accuracy vs Sensationalism, which will have wildlife biologist P Gowri Shankar, Shailesh Shrivastava of Mongabay India and conservation storyteller Trishala Ashok on it; Marginlands: An Exploration of Indian Landscapes, which will have writers Arati Kumar-Rao and Aparna Karthikeyan in conversation with each other and Rewilding: The Only Hope, helmed by senior wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, rewilding expert Alister Scott, architect Nina Chandavarkar and author and educator, Seema Mundoli.

Other festival highlights include conversations about human-animal conflict, birds and their nests, a nature quiz, and iconic Indian trees at the children’s festival, as well as workshops on environment writing, nature art and multimedia storytelling. “We are quite overwhelmed with the response to the festival and how it’s evolved,” says Paramanand, listing GLF’s partners, which include WWF, Atta Galatta, Mongabay India and ATREE, among others. He hopes to expand the festival further, drawing more funding and support and even taking it to other cities, making it “bigger and more impactful,” he says.

GLF will be held at Century Club, Cubbon Park, Bengaluru, from 9.30 a.m. onwards on December 7. To know more, log into https://greenlitfest.com/