Kolkata Literary Meet: Barbara Kingsolver, Jhumpa Lahiri open with tribute to Mahasweta Devi

Commemorating the centenary of renowned writer and activist Mahasweta Devi, the Kolkata Literary Meet 2026 began with a celebration of her free spirit, her untiring work for the upliftment of the marginalised and the power of her pen. Two theatre makers Senjuti Mukherjee and Dana Roy read out short readings from Five Plays and Hajar Churashir Ma (Mother of [prisoner number] 1084), both translated by Samik Bandopadhyay into English. Ms. Mukherjee read out a portion from Hajar Churashir Ma in Bengali.

Addressing the audience, International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq (Heart Lamp) said Kolkata is a “city of words” and pointed out that it has used words to question Empire, shape movements, reimagine society and offer shelter to wounded imaginations.

Stressing on the power of reading, she said in a world increasingly governed by speed, spectacle and sound bytes, reading teaches slowness, patience, and nurtures doubt and wisdom. “Reading is radical, because it resists simplification, it refuses binaries, and it doesn’t allow us the comfort of easy answers. A reader learns that the world is layered, complex, and unfinished, and, perhaps that is why literature remains indispensable in a time marked by fractures, polarities and anxieties,” Ms. Mushtaq said, to applause.

Women’s Prize for Fiction and Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead) said she grew up in a small town in one of the poorest areas of America but that a library and the books in them opened new windows and doorways into other lives.

The venue, Alipore Museum, is a former prison built in colonial times where many freedom fighters were incarcerated, and Malavika Banerjee, director of the Kolkata Literary Meet, said it was a humbling experience to be at the Museum. “It reminds us how hard fought our freedom was. It is a gift that we must value and further enhance and nurture with more tolerance, greater inclusivity and a broader understanding of the world around us,” she said, welcoming the two writers who “exemplify these qualities”, Banu Mushtaq and Barbara Kingsolver, to inaugurate the 14th edition.

She said the writers were aligned in their concerns for the planet, their empathy for the disenfranchised, their unflinching honesty as they examine power structures.

The first session was with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri about her latest work, Roman Stories, and she explained how she learnt to think and write in a new language, Italian. A big votary of the shorter form of writing, she said a short story is two things in particular: it pays attention to every word, which makes it more akin to poetry; also, by virtue of its brevity, it can be read in one sitting, and that’s a “pure reading experience.”