A guide to workshops at The Hindu Lit for Life 2026

While authors take centrestage at The Hindu Lit For Life, workshops running alongside the main events have also managed to draw enthusiastic participants. Over the years, the literature festival has seen experts from publishing, translation, theatre, art, and even mathematics handhold participants through interactive workshops that offer a peek into their field of expertise. This year at Lit For Life, one can learn to write a play, read and write the Tamil-Brahmi and Vattelluttu scripts, take a deep dive into handling deep fake, and even do a little workout with a fitness coach.

Deeper than deep fakes

With AI being the buzzword now, learn how to create a lasting narrative for yourself at Shantanu Tungare’s workshop titled Owning Your Digital Self in the AI Era. “The session is about deep faking yourself before deep fake deep fakes you,” says the Mumbai-based Shantanu, a filmmaker who is best known for his pioneering work combining cinematic craft and AI-driven creativity.

Shantanu Tungare
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Shantanu will teach participants how to create a strong narrative online in an era in which a profile photo and a few seconds of voice recordings are sufficient to deep fake a person to doing or saying things that might do harmful things for their identity. This knowledge, Shantanu feels, is crucial in this time and age, especially for someone who does not know technology.

“I will show how to build an online brand using AI tools; what exactly AI does, how to identify deep fake and how to build narrative immunity on deep fakes,” he explains. Shantanu says that AI can never be countered with technology. “It will always outsmart you,” he says, adding: “But what it cannot outsmart is the narrative you put of yourself.”

Shantanu suggests we use our instinct to pivot into something that AI can never know. “Like a conversation you have with your kids or parents about something that is not there on any online platform,” he says. “I’ll also be teaching how to clone your voice, how to clone yourself and how to use ChatGPT and Gemini to have a two-way conversation to figure out who you are, what your motivations are and come up with a strong narrative about yourself.”

Owning Your Digital Self in the AI Era is on January 17, 10.30am to 11.30am and 3pm to 4pm, for those aged 18-plus at Lady Andal Seminar Hall

Scripted

For those whose heart beats for theatre, author, playwright, and journalist Gowri Ramnarayan is set to offer insights on how to write a play in the workshop Hands on: Write a Play? She will be picking three famous scenes from iconic plays for the exercise. “There is a world classic, an Indian classic, and a play that I wrote so I can give a personal perspective,” she says.

“When you write a play, you’re not writing it to be read; you’re writing it to be performed,” says Gowri, adding that there are many challenges for a playwright. “In a play, the entire frame on stage is before the eye of every spectator. You can’t direct them to look at someone’s hand or action. Everything is seen. How do you make sure the viewer is looking at that particular action, spot or facial expression you want them to look at?”

Gowri Ramnarayan
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

While writing a play, a playwright has to depend on the actor to communicate the story. This is different from a novel, feels Gowri. “I’m not writing a novel in which between me and the reader, there is nothing but the words on the page,” she says. A novelist has the liberty of a several thousand words to describe a character and setting. “But narration and description are shut out for the playwright,” she adds.

Brevity is key. Also, a playwright has to show. “Every word has to count. It’s a different art. In terms of length, in terms of giving a full experience within a limit of time,” she says. Gowri says she will underline the challenges; point at the decisions she made, and the solutions she found as a playwright.

Hands on: Write a Play? is on January 18; 2.30pm to 4.30pm at Ground Floor, Annexe Building, Lady Andal. It is open for those aged 20 and above.

Demystifying epigraphy

V Vedachalam, a retired Senior Epigraphist from Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, will take participants into the fascinating world of the ancient Tamil-Brahmi script. In his workshop Early Tamil Epigraphy with the focus on Tamil Brahmi and Vattelluttu scripts, Vedachalam, who holds a doctorate, will be teaching participants to read and write the scripts, also throwing light on the bas-reliefs of Jaina Tirthankaras in places such as Arittapatti and Keezhavalavu near Madurai, and at Kazhugumalai near Kovilpatti.

V Vedachalam
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Early Tamil Epigraphy with focus on Tamil Brahmi and Vattelluttu scripts is on January 17 and 18, 10.30am to 4.30pm at The Hindu studio. Open for those aged 20 and above.

Mind and body

Mumbai-based health and fitness coach Priti Chawla’s session will be an interactive one with movement and breath work involved. “I have divided the workshop into two parts,” says Priti. “The first will be about fitness’ general components and learning to follow a structured fitness programme,” she explains, adding that this will be followed by a 25-minute practical component. “We will then move on to the philosophy of fitness and wholesome living, delving deep into what one needs to do to achieve a healthy living plan for life.” Priti will also address food philosophy, digital boundaries, being amidst Nature, reflection and connection.

Priti Chawla
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Beyond the Body: The Philosophy of Fitness and Wholesome Living is on January 17; 10.30am to 12.30pm at Ground Floor, Annexe Building. Open for 18-plus

Money matters

Rohit Sarin, who has three decades of experience in private banking, will explain in simple terms about how to build the habit of investing. At his workshop Unlocking Wealth: Secrets to Getting Rich at Any Age, people across ages can learn to build wealth and grow their corpus. It will not only look at how money works, but also at how to make it work.

Rohit Sarin
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Unlocking Wealth: Secrets to Getting Rich at Any Age is on January 18, 10.30am to 12.30pm at Ground Floor, Annexe Building. For those aged 18-plus.

As the lotus blooms

At Sharan Apparao’s workshop The Many Lives of the Lotus: Between Sacred History and Contemporary Claims, the visual motif of the lotus will take centrestage. She will engage with questions of iconography, visual continuity, and cultural transmission through the lotus as both motif and symbol. Sharan, an art curator and the founder of Apparao Galleries in Chennai, has been associated with the visual arts for four decades.

Sharan Apparao
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

The Many Lives of the Lotus is on January 17, 12.30pm to 1.30pm at Lady Andal Seminar Hall

There will also be a screening of the documentary Wild Tamil Nadu, that has been produced by Sundram Fasteners and directed by wildlife photographer Kalyan Varma, on January 18; 10am to 11.30am and 3pm to 4pm.

To register, visit thehindu.com/lit-for-life/workshop/