Literary festival closes on a thoughtful note, exploring identity, tolerance and Kolkata’s cultural soul

The 17th edition of Kolkata’s annual literary festival concluded on Sunday with a vibrant final day that brought together writers, thinkers, translators, filmmakers and poets across multiple venues in the city.

The closing sessions reflected on themes of identity, heritage, creativity and tolerance, reaffirming the festival’s role as a key platform for cultural dialogue.The day featured conversations ranging from crime writing and philosophy to leadership, media ethics and palliative care. Authors Amit Lodha and Rudraneil Sengupta discussed crime narratives rooted in real-life policing, while Pavan K Varma reflected on India’s philosophical traditions and later delivered a memorial lecture examining questions of pluralism and reconciliation in contemporary society.Literary highlights included Jerry Pinto’s discussion on life, death and caregiving, explorations of Kolkata’s layered cultural history through literature and translation, and candid conversations on desire, gender and self-expression. Sessions on journalism addressed the challenges of media responsibility in a polarised era, while an adda-style discussion captured the city’s enduring intellectual and cultural spirit.

The evening programme celebrated book design with a cover prize shortlist announcement, paid tribute to filmmaker Raj Khosla on his centenary year, and concluded with the launch of a new work by Shashi Tharoor, focusing on the life and legacy of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.Parallel sessions for young readers engaged students through storytelling, poetry and word games, while the festival’s poetry segment showcased voices from across languages and traditions, culminating in a tribute to the city’s multilingual literary heritage.Spanning literature, cinema, history, philosophy and poetry, the three-day festival ended with a reaffirmation of Kolkata’s enduring place as a city of ideas, debate and creative exchange.