# Bundelkhand Literature Festival

Bundelkhand Literature Festival is a literary festival held annually in Jhansi, a part of Bundelkhand region, in Uttar Pradesh, India.

## History

Bundelkhand Literature Festival was founded in 2020 by social activist Chandra Pratap Singh, who serves as the founder and director of the festival. It was started with the aim of promoting the art and literature of Bundelkhand region.

## 2020 edition

The first edition of the Bundelkhand Literature Festival started at the Craft Fairground near the Jhansi Fort in Jhansi on 28 February 2020. It was attended by more than two dozen literary figures from the fields of Hindi and Bundeli literature, dramatics, journalism, cinema and television. It held discussions on different aspects of Bundeli and Hindi literature and culture. The festival was organized by the joint aegis of the Department of Hindi, Bundelkhand University and Bundelkhand Literature Festival Society.
The inaugural session of the festival was presided over by Prof J.V. Vaishampayan, the vice-chancellor of Bundelkhand State University. It was attended by eminent personalities, including Hindi novelist Maitri Pushpa, Padma Shri awardee Kailash Madbaiya and actor Raja Bundela.

### Participants

The following literary figures participated in the 2020 BLF.
* Maitreyi Pushpa
* Padmashree Kailash Madbaiya
* Richa Anirudh
* Anikta Jain
* Naveen Chaudhary
* Aazam Quadri
* Prahlad Agrawal
* Indrajeet Singh
* Dinesh Shankar Shailendra
* Indira Dangi
* Kuldeep Raghav
* Geet Chaturvedi
* Vivek Mishra
* Raja Bundela
* Sushmita Mukherjee
* Dr. Sharad Singh
* Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi
* Prof J.V. Vaishampayan

## 2021 edition

In 2021, the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions imposed by the government.

## 2022 edition

In 2022, the Bundelkhand Literature Festival was held from 14 October 2022 to 16 October 2022.
First Day Activities – October 14, 2022
Inaugural Ceremony
Sessions Organized
Hall Athai
- Bundeli Language – If Spoken, It Will Be Heard (Future of Bundeli in the Mainstream)** – Bahadur Singh Parmar, Mahendra Bheemsh, Ratibhan Kanj, Santosh Patairia, Pankaj Pandit
- Woman Standing at the Threshold – Suryawala, Chandrakala, Nidhi Agarwal, Chitra Desai, Vishal Pandey
- Position of Bundeli Language in Media – Sachin Chaudhary, Khabar Leheriya, Varsha Chaudhary, Lakshmi Kant
- The Story We Heard from Bundeli Harbolos – Vandana Awasthi Dubey, Manish Bhargava, Rajveer Singh, Dr. Anirudh Rawat
- From Passion to Profession – Girijansh Gopalan, Praveen Agrahari, Aman Jaiswal, Pragya Agarwal
- One-Sided Approach of Media in Cinema – Ajit Rai, Deepak Dua
Hall Mda
- Bundelkhandi Fine Arts – Vijay Karolia, Madhu Srivastava, Vinod Mishra ‘Surmani’
- Why is Today’s Generation Moving Away from Bundeli Folk Culture? – Pandit Parshuram Pathak, Hargovind Kushwaha, Ramshankar Bharti, Dr. Brijesh Pathak
- Future of Bundeli in Cinema – Arif Shahdoli, Geetika Vedika, Mohit Dvedi
- Place of Poetry in Core Literature
- In the Light of Muktabodh (Dalit Literature)– Shyauraj Singh Bechain, Shobha Akshar
Cultural Evening
- Ek Hai Amrita (A play based on Amrita Pritam by Team TMP)
- Poetry Recitation – Alok Dhawa, Naresh Saxena, Teji Grover, Rustam Ji, Narendra Pundrik Ji, Chitra Desai, Ambar Pandey, Rashmi Bhardwaj, Nishant Upadhyaya
Second Day Activities – October 15, 2022
Session on Jhansi Smart City
Sessions Organized
Hall Athai
- Civilization Sitting on the Throne (Kinnar Literature Discussion) – Bhagwant Anmol, Mahendra Bheemsh, Geetika Vedika
- Literature Disappearing in Consumerism – Naveen Chaudhary, Jitendra Srivastava, Piyush Pushpam
- Future of Print Media in the Digital Age – Sanjay Dwivedi, Jaydeep Karnik, Neeraj Kumar Dubey, Ritu Dubey Tiwari
- Bullet and Ghazal – Gautam Rajrishi, Naveen Chaudhary
- Without Water, Everything Is Empty – Pankaj Chaturvedi (NBT), Sanjay Singh, Krishna Gandhi, Arindam Ghosh
- Writing a New Story Together in the New Era – Ranvijay, Mridul Kapil, Anushka
- Famous Poets, Renowned Poets – Chirag Jain, Praveen Agrahari
Hall Mda
- Role of Hindi Literature in the Freedom Movement – Pawan Kumar, Ritu Dubey Tiwari, Payal Lilhare
- Need for Disability Discourse in Literature – Lalit Kumar, Kanchan Singh Chauhan, Kumaremdra Sengar, Mridul Kapil
- Publishing: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow – Alind Maheshwari, Anmol
- How Historical Heritage Has Preserved Arts and Craftsmanship – Rupesh Upadhyay, Ajay Trivedi, Dr. Naveen Chandra Dubey
- Journalism Ethics and Perspective – Priyadarshan, Girijashankar
- Significance of Bundeli Language in Cinema and Theater – Deepak Dua, Rajeev Saxena, Pallavi Mahajan
Cultural Program
- Story Recitation – Girish Pankaj, Vivek Mishra, Urmila Shiris, Maitri Pushpa, Jayanti Ranganathan, Nidhi Agarwal, Shashibhushan Ji
Third Day Activities – October 16, 2022
Sessions Organized
- Theater and Music – Devendra Ahirwar, Pankshi Jalounavi, Rekha Lagarkha
- Changing Mood of Cinema – Saty Vyas, M.K. Pandey
- Podcasting – Rajesh Mishra, Harsh Upadhyay
- Book Launch – Abhishek Singh
- Sensibility of the Rifle – Abhishek Singh, Kamlesh Kamal, Girijansh Gopalan
- Cinema – Sandeep Yadav, Ashit Chatterjee, Devendra Ahirwar
- Digital Journalism and the World of True and False Information – Syed Ansari, Dhirendra Rai, Bilal
- Oral Tradition in Literature – Sonroopa Vishal, Sarvesh Asthana, Jyoti Verma
- Literature and Culture (From Udrav to Modernity) – Ravindra Kumar, Mukesh Pandey
Discussion on "Those Whose Imaginations are Awarded" – Children’s Literature Debate
- Praya Shukla, Divik Ramesh, Udayan Vajpai, Manjari Shukla, Nidhi Agarwal
- Changing Landscape of Stories – Tarun Bhatnagar, Rajesh Mishra
- Editors' Perspective on Literature – Sanjeev Ji, Arun Dev, Anamika Shiv, Rakesh Bihari, Pankaj Sharma
- The Mind Tangles in the Search for Happiness – Ritu Bhardwaj, Jyoti Verma, Deepti Mishra, Aman Jaiswal
- Youth’s Role in Expanding Hindi – Shobha Akshar, Jayanti Ranganathan, Anushka Dudhiyal
Bundelkhand Literature Festival 2022’s Digital Media Partner I Chauk – Saeed Ansari’s Address to the Youth
Saeed Ansari engaged with the youth and gave them important career advice. He also spoke about the significance of journalism and its requirements. During this discussion, I Chauk’s editor Dhirendra Rai was also present.
Saeed Ansari shared that it is very important to understand the significance of asking questions. He emphasized the need to learn how to ask the right questions.
He further said that no one should be biased. Our news should be impartial and unaffected by caste, religion, or sect. What we see should reflect in our news.
Before discussing any topic, it is important to research that topic. Read as much as you can. Build a rich vocabulary with new words and, most importantly, learn to write your thoughts first. Understanding ideologies and evaluating them is crucial. Once you learn to write, speaking will come naturally.

## 2024 edition

Bundelkhand Literature Festival (2024) 3.0
The festival, fair, and celebration days have returned once again, bringing with them a magnificent tapestry of literature, art, and culture. This year, just like the previous festival, many renowned personalities from the respective fields gathered to showcase the incredible convergence of literature, art, culture, and cinema. Unique cultural programs spread their charm, and once again, the third season of the Bundelkhand Literature Festival was organized to strengthen the foundation of literature and art in Bundelkhand.
Guests
1. Harivansh Ji (Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha)
2. Priyanka Gupta (Graduate Chaiwali)
3. Pankaj Chaturvedi (Author, Columnist)
4. Syed Ansari (Anchor, Aaj Tak)
5. Manoj Sinha (Military Officer, Actor, Writer)
6. Jaydeep Karnik (Editor, Amar Ujala Digital)
7. Gautam Rajrishi (Poet, Military Officer)
8. Deepak Mashal (Poet, Writer)
9. Pawan Kumar (IAS, Writer)
10. Vandana Awasthi Dubey (Author)
11. Shashank Garg (IPS, Writer)
12. Ranjan Kumar (Delhi University Professor)
13. Shubhangi Litoria (Actress)
14. Rajesh Kumar Mishra (IPS, Poet, Writer)
15. Santosh Kumar (IPS)
16. Rajani Singh (Inspector)
17. Ritu Dubey Tiwari (Principal, Niscort Media College)
18. Dr. Munna Pandey (Author)
19. Naz Joshi (Miss India)
20. Ashok Pathak (Actor)
21. Rajesh Pandey (Former IPS)
22. Dhirendra Rai (Editor, I Chauk)
23. Agam Jain (IPS, Writer)
24. Tarun Bhatnagar (IAS, Storyteller)
25. Akhilendra (Poet, Actor)
26. Aditi Patel (Civil Servant)
27. Ram Mohan Sharma (Journalist)
This was the occasion for the third installment of the Bundelkhand Literature Festival, and ‘Kaka-Ju’ had already prepared for it.
Nothing was left undone in welcoming the connoisseurs of art.
Huge stages were set, with dreams scattered everywhere, and children, filled with colors, joined countless links of enthusiasm.
Yes, Bundelkhand’s culture and literary traditions have always been rich and unique since ancient times, and the Bundelkhand Literature Festival has tried to preserve this heritage under the guidance of the energetic youth of Bundelkhand and the learned English mentors.
So, here are the first glimpses of the preparations for the third season of the Bundelkhand Literature Festival. A special note is that most of the decorations were crafted by the BLF volunteer team of children, using their own hands.
Bundelkhand Literature Festival 3.0 not only hosted personalities from the world of art and literature but also welcomed exhibitions showcasing unique arts and talented artists. The event was a confluence of rare artworks, including canvas painting, stone art, wood art, and nail art, which became the focal point of attraction. Various kinds of books were also included in the exhibition.
Come on, then, let’s get ready for the festival again,
Because our Bundelkhand is unique, and we have to show it to everyone,
So let’s bring it here and hold the BLF again!
Management Partner – BOOK Wala
Event Partner – Bundelkhand University

## 2025 edition

Bundelkhand Literature Festival (2025) 4.0 – Coming Soon!
The much-awaited Bundelkhand Literature Festival 4.0 is just around the corner! Get ready for an extraordinary blend of literature, art, culture, and cinema as we bring together some of the most prominent personalities from these fields. The festival promises a series of engaging discussions, artistic showcases, and captivating cultural performances that will celebrate Bundelkhand’s rich heritage.
Stay tuned for an unforgettable experience as season 4 of this iconic event unfolds, continuing to strengthen the literary and cultural roots of Bundelkhand!
Mark your calendars and join us for a celebration like no other!