China focus country at 9th Hyderabad literary festival start January 25

Hyderabad (Telangana), Jan 18 (ANI): Literature, art and culture of China will be in focus at the ninth edition of the prestigious Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF), which has invited China as the guest of honour this year.
The festival, which begins in Hyderabad on January 25 will also pay a special tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in his 150th birth anniversary year. Keeping with its tradition of paying special attention to one Indian language at each edition of the festival, Gujarati has been picked as the language in focus for HLF 2019..
The three-day literary event that draws over a 100 writers, artistes, academics, scholars, publishers from India and abroad each year is bringing this year an additional feature of 'Kaavya Dhaara'- an exclusive platform for poetry reading, rendering and performance.
The logo of HLF 2019 was released here Friday.
An eight-member delegation of writers, festival directors, art managers from Australia will also participate in the festival.
The festival also includes special features such as tribute to legendary artistes. A special tribute will be given to Mahatma Gandhi on the second day of event .
B. Venkatesham, Telangana Tourism and cultural Secretary told ANI , "This festival is celebrated every year. This year China is the guest country and China Writers Association is supporting the festival."
"This year being 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a special tribute program will be organised on January 26 where around 200 poets will participate. This is a festival of national integration," he said.
There are some other cultural programmes like audio-visual tributes to Kaifi Azmi and Mrinalini Sarabhai. 200 authors and artistes from 10 countries are expected to participate in the festival. (ANI)