The idea of Dalits have captured the imagination of politicians, the media and publishers alike in India. With BR Ambedkar becoming the subject of a tug of war of sorts between political forces all wanting to own him in the 125th year of his birth, even as the battle over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide rages on, perhaps it’s no surprise that the next logical step has just been announced: a Dalit literature festival.

Slotted into the dates of December 6, 7 and 8 in 2016 – a smart choice, to ensure there are no overlaps with the Delhi and Mumbai editions of the Times of India litfest, which will most likely be on the weekends on either side – the Delhi festival should be an exciting one if co-founders Sudha Sudhanand (an editor at Westland) and Sumant Batra (Founder, Kumaon Literary Festival) can get together Dalit writers, scholars and publishers focussed on the subject.

The five languages mentioned explicitly as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, and Hindi. Perhaps the festival will look at other, smaller languages as well, and aim to have them represented through writers. And we really hope “dalit food” is not going to be an attention-grabber. For the sheer variety of language alone, this festival should be a delight.