The literature festival was organised especially for those below 25.
Do young people today still actually read? For Bengaluru at least, the answer is a "Yes". When Bengaluru-based Under 25 Club organised a literature festival earlier this month especially for those under 25, all tickets sold out and a horde of people thronged to the venue. The organisers believe it was the first of its kind in the country.
The festival's curator, Surya HK told NDTV, "The youth who do read are not vocal enough about it. There is no platform to bring them together and you know give them that expression ...People who read or like reading tend to be branded as geeky, nerdy or boring and I don't see why that is a negative brand... If you are geeky and nerdy you are smart. Smart is good."
There were panel discussions and workshops on everythingfrom writing to getting over a broken heart, open mic events, slam poetry, book exchange and music. One young visitor, Shreyansi, said, "When you get into the habit of reading books, it's all you want. And you want to discuss it."
The festival sold out all its tickets.
Another visitor, 19-year-old Akhil said it was a wrong notion that young people do not read much. "It's absolutely wrong. I think people who are between 18 and 25 read the most," he said.
Authors are of course always in search of new readers. One of the authors present for a panel discussion, Vikram Sampath, said, "I think the turnout, the kind of questions, the responses that have been given out is something that I didn't expect. I wish there are more and more such festivals which make reading, books and literature popular among the young people of this country."
The young crowd cheered on favourite authors at the event including Durjoy Datta, Manu Pillai, Shyam Bhatt, Jeet Thayil and Shaili Chopra.
The event saw slam poetry and open mic performances.
21-year-old co-founder of the Under 25 Club, Anto Philip said there was a deliberate attempt to appeal to the young. "We have put it together and said, 'Let's make it super fun, add music, speakers, sessions..." he said.
Another co-founder, Shreyans Jain, also all of 21, said, "When we began, we knew that lit fest as a concept was not aimed towards the youth. So we wanted to change it by adding all of these things and different flavours. We were sure that there would be takers, but not this much. We are blown away by the response."
The event was partnered by publishers including HarperCollins, Westland, Amarylis and Juggernaut - who also seem to believe this is a segment of readers worth investing in. So it's not just about Tweets, Facebook and binge-watching the Game of Thrones. The art of reading is still not dead.