Love books and conversation? Then head straight to the India Habitat Centre in the national capital, the venue of the ongoing literary festival, Penguin Fever, which is organised by Penguin Random House India every year.
A special edition of its festival Spring Fever, Penguin Fever, which began on October 26 this year, is a one-of-a-kind celebration of books, reading, music and much more, presenting a great opportunity for the audience to interact with their favourite authors. Hosted at the Amphitheatre at the India Habitat Centre, you can browse through books at the publishing house’s open-air library during the daytime and, in the evenings, the same space is transformed into a hub of literary bustle, featuring key authors, previews of forthcoming and current attractions, and panel discussions around interesting and relevant topics, often followed by performances.
And even though the festival started some days back, there’s still a lot you can catch. On Sunday (October 29), you can attend a session with author Ruskin Bond, where he will talk about his life and writing. On the same day, another session on ‘criminal minds’ will have authors such as Hussain Zaidi, Brijesh Singh, Ravi Subramanian and Novoneel Chakraborty in conversation. ‘The Line of Beauty’ the next day will see authors Perumal Murugan, Kannan Sundaram, Bibek Debroy and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi in conversation with Namita Gokhale. The festival will conclude on October 31 with the session, ‘The Rise of the Elephant’, which will have authors Shashi Tharoor, Gurcharan Das and Sonu Bhasin in conversation with Shireen Bhan. Penguin Fever is on till October 31 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi