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LIBERAL TIMES ISSUE 21

�e second Bengal Lights Literary Conclave, hosted by the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, took place from 2-3 May, 2015 at the university’s main campus in Dhanmondi.

�is year’s distinguished panel of writers, journalists and publishers hailed from eight countries in four continents. �ey spent the two days of the conclave exploring this year’s theme, ‘Dissent, Reportage and Literature’ through structured panel discussions that each address an essential and complementary aspect of the broader topic.

�is year’s keynote speaker was the proli�c American writer and journalist William T. Vollmann, author of the award-winning book Europe Central.

Featured panelists at the event include: Githa Hariharan, noted Indian author and editor whose books include Al-Qaeda: �e True Story of Radical Islam; Saba Imtiaz, the Pakistani journalist and writer whose debut novel, Karachi, You’re Killing Me! is soon to become a Hindi �lm.

Other panelists included Indian journalist and writer Sudeep Chakravarti, Nigerian novelist A. Igoni Barret and his wife, the Dutch writer and journalist Femke van Zeijl, German writer and publisher Meike Ziervogel, Equatorial Guinean writer in exile Juan Tomas Avila Laurel, American poet and translator David Shook and American editor and publisher C. P. Heiser.

�ey were joined by eminent local writers and experts including Salimullah Khan, Syed Manzoorul Islam, K. Anis Ahmed, Kazi Nabil Ahmed and Zafar Sobhan.

After the Conclave, several guests traveled around Bangladesh.

�e Bengal Lights Literary Conclave is an annual event that aims to occupy a discussion space between literary festivals and academic conferences. It is unique in that it brings an unlikely group of people together in an unlikely place to generate focused and curated discussions, which are then transcribed and made available online at: conclave.bengallights.com