Madhubani Literature Festival

Madhubani Literature Festival

Madhubani Literature Festival (MLF) is an effort to explore the poorvavriti of the community by engaging with it through its literary expressions. The idea is to widely open the thought process so that a dialogue could be initiated between modernity and tradition. Its specificity lies in the site of dialogue which is deliberately kept in a rural setting. The idea is to make the community a part of this churning and reclaim the creativity which used to be a marker of this linguistic community located in the region known as Mithila. The MLF is not limited to literature, instead, it aims at creating a platform for dialogue on science, technology, philosophy, lifeworld, and almost everything that concerns human beings. The idea is to bring people from different walks of life to engage with the available intellectual resources and trigger off a fresh reflexive articulation.

We assert that language is a tool of expression and every individual should have the freedom to use the language of his or her choice. The knowledge of the language should be treated as enabling and not disabling factor. MLF is producing multilingual texts for the last few years. Ahibat and Madba are the significant fest books of MLF. This would open up the possibility of participation of common people having mastery over traditional knowledge systems but not having command over the formal academic language. This multilingual engagement is also a path to the process of knowledge generation as a part of our everyday life. In this sense, it is not merely mapping the knowledge system but a creative intervention to reclaim the production of knowledge as a social process. One of the unique things about the MLF is that unlike other literature festivals which are usually organised in City, MLF is organised in the villages. The purpose of organising the festival in villages is to enable more local people to participate, and to create awareness among the masses about their rich cultural past and heritage. And finally, the most important thing about the MLF is that the organisers of the fest have pledged that no amount of damage be caused to the environment at any stage of the event. No any ecologically harmful materials are used in erection of the stage or decoration of the festival site. The stage or Machan has been made of bamboos and plastered with mud.