The Shillong Literature Festival and Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival are set to begin, with the former starting on Tuesday.
The literature event will be held at Ward’s Lake in Shillong and the latter well away from Shillong at Madan Kurkalang, Bhoirymbong in Ri-Bhoi.
Entry for the Shillong Literature Festival is the normal entry rate for visitors to Ward’s Lake. However, school students in school uniforms carrying ID will be granted free entry on Tuesday as it is Children’s Day.
This is the third edition of the two festivals, though the second last year was called off due to the Mukroh Massacre.
The literature event will have book stalls, food stalls, discussions with authors like Janice Pariat and Ankush Saikia, open mic poetry, a special focus on children through Tinkle comics and even some music. It will run until November 16.
The following day the Cherry Blossom Festival takes over, more centred on music but also with cosplay competitions, beauty pageants, choir contests, graffiti and art installations, karaoke contests, a ferris wheel and zipline. The festival will conclude on November 19, which has caused some controversy as it is a Sunday.
The government is estimating around 1 lakh attendees to the Cherry Blossom Festival, 90 percent of whom are expected to be domestic or international tourists.
Acts will include Ne-Yo, Ronan Keating, Jonas Blue and a number of local bands and singers.