Dutee Chand, VVS Laxman, Murali Kartik to be at Dec 14 sports literature festival

New Delhi: After debuting in Bhubaneswar last year, the Ekamra Sports Literary festival is coming to Delhi for its second edition. The two-day festival will open on December 14.

Touted to be "Asia's first and largest ever sports literary festival", the event will bring together some of the biggest names from the Indian and international sports fraternity like sprinter Dutee Chand, former cricketer VVS Laxman, Murali Kartik, Monty Panesar, and discus thrower Krishna Poonia among others.

It will also see participation by sportswriters like Michael Sexton, and Kristen Worley from across the globe.

"The second season was to consciously push the festival towards authors and writers who spend a considerable amount of their time and life honing a set of skills that is extremely difficult to master.

"We hope the second season is influential, provocative and weighty in its debates, discussions and opinions," festival director Shireen Sethi said in a statement.

Highlights include the India release of English bowler Monty Panesar's "The Full Monty"; Australian author Michael Sexton's acclaimed book "Border's Battlers" on the 1986 tied test in Madras between India and Australia; sessions on "Business of Sport", and former Canadian cyclist Kristen Worley's "Woman Enough".

While Dutee Chand will discuss the pressure of Olympic qualification and balancing a life dominated by magazine covers and endless debates over her life's choices, former Indian bowler Bishan Singh Bedi will launch his book "Fortune Turners".

The two-day festival will also see "Sports Book Awards" in six categories: Autobiography of the Year, Biography of the Year (authorised or unauthorised), Cricket Book of the Year, Outstanding Sports Book Award, Best Sports Book Publisher and Sports Book of the Year (to be decided by the jury).

The event will be held at the Premier Lemon Tree in Aero City here, and will come to an end on December 15.