If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. But if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart,” said the late former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela. Echoing that thought process, the Gateway Literature Fest was founded by four journalists in 2015 to give a platform to the authors who wrote in regional languages. “At that time, Mumbai had many literature festivals. However, most were to honour international writers only,” said festival director Mohan Kakanadan, “As journalists, regional language writers would often share that there are few platforms, or if they’d get invited to festivals, it would be for the sake of it. There was only the Sahitya Akademi Awards that acknowledged such writers. Hence, we decided to start the Gateway Literature Festival.” 

After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the festival is back with its seventh edition. This year, the focus is on the translators. “We believe they are the ambassadors of Indian literature,” said Kakanadan. “English is a bridging language and these translators enable some brilliant works of Indian literature to traverse borders.”