Bonding over books

To grow, you have to keep pushing the limits, and the second edition of Twice Told — an annual, second-hand book pop up event in the city—is doing just this. Last year, the event exposed book lovers to an eclectic collection of books, including rare titles, like The Second World War by Winston Churchill, a 1957 edition of Enid Blyton’s Five Go To The Mystery Moor, a collector’s edition of Winnie-The-Pooh, T.S. Pillai’s Chemmeen, among others, presented by three iconic second-hand booksellers – Afzal, Hitler and Vivek. While this year too, these three will put on display their priced finds, the event is geared up to give bibliophiles a lot more than interesting reads.

Mansi Shetty, co-ordinator of the event, describes the second edition, put together jointly by Swapbook!, What Are You Reading Today? and CoWrks, as a four-day celebration of stories. “This year, we will be going beyond book sales and including storytelling, author interactions, spoken word and even a literary dinner. The idea is to make the event an immersive experience, where stories are explored through all five senses,” she says. The event will also host popular book clubs like the Sanskaari Girls Book Club, who will analyse the portrayal of female characters in biblical narratives, Bring Your Own Book book club, which will shine a spotlight on the importance of translated works, Swapbook!, who will be in conversation with the heritage activist, Vikramjit Singh Rooprai and foster author interactions with those like Anukriti Upadhyay and others.

Mansi Shetty, organiser

In you enjoy listening to stories along with reading them, Jashn-E-Qalam, the Hindustani literature storytelling collective, has prepared four short stories especially for the event. Mansi informs us that one of their sessions will be dedicated to Bhisham Sahni and Premchand, whose birth and death anniversaries respectively fall in the month of July. Another unique aspect of the second edition of Twice Told is the inclusion of several translations. Delhi’s Niyogi Books and Calcutta’s Seagull Books will bring in some of the best translations in world and Indian literature. Additionally, Adivaani Trust, a Kolkata-based publishing house for Adivasi literature will present tribal narratives in the form of fictional and research-based texts. The sale will also include a lot of indigenous books and works in regional languages.

Talking about the reasons behind this multi-regional and lingual approach to the event, Mansi says, “We, as readers, are growing up in an environment where we’ve stopped reading in our mother tongues. And though we are often divided on the grounds of language, region and other factors, we are connected by literature. One can empathize with one another through literature and this helps you understand somebody’s point of view. So you stop being reactionary and don’t take offence easily.” Along with translations, this year’s book sale will also include a lot of graphic novels, both Indian and international, and comics. Mansi informs us that her team is also on the lookout for ‘an Indian MAD magazine, called Deewana’. Apart from these, the three booksellers will present the best of their collections, including the first editions of books from the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

But this is not all, for, for those wanting to enjoy literature while also teasing their taste buds, a ‘literary supper’ has been organised to help you achieve both. Savor Experiences will whip up a menu inspired by an author, and you will also be treated to the life stories and experiences of second-hand booksellers. “It will be like you’re having a dinner in the street, surrounded by booksellers on all sides,” shares Mansi. Now that’s a dining experience to die for! Happening from July 19 to 22, at CoWrks, Worli