FAQ

Agora is the festival of ideas hosted by Asianet News. The name is derived from AGORA in ancient Greece, meaning public place. Intellectual discourses including the lectures of philosophers and Plato happened at AGORAs that even included market places.

The first edition of AGORA, festival of ideas, is happening at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Keralam. AGORA will take place from November 27 to 29 at Kanakakunnu Palace premises in Thiruvananthapuram.

The festival of ideas, AGORA, is organized by Asianet News, the pioneering news channel in Malayalam. Asianet began operations as the first private television channel in Malayalam on August 30, 1993. The first Asianet news bulletin was broadcast on September 30, 1995. Reaching nearly 5 million daily viewers in India and 2 million overseas, Asianet News has dominated Malayalam television ratings since its inception. The network maintains a strong digital presence across eight languages - Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla, Marathi, Hindi and English.

AGORA broadly means public place in Greek. The name is derived from AGORAs in ancient Greece. Intellectual discourses including the lectures of philosophers and Plato happened at AGORAs that even included market places.

A festival of ideas is a larger forum where ideas are expressed and debated. It can be from any sector and can be expressed in any form. There is no boundary for expressing ideas.

Yes. Future is the keyword here. The festival of ideas is centred on future. How will the future life unfold for us? What will be the future of Keralam and India? How will future technologies aid our lives? What will be the future ethos for our society? All these questions will be loudly asked at AGORA.

Over 200 speakers, 20 of them international guests are expected to speak at AGORA. The speakers include a Nobel laureate and two Booker Prize winners. There will be nearly 150 sessions spread across six venues during the three days of the festival.

No. AGORA is a festival of ideas. It will obviously discuss the brilliant ideas in the arts, literature, and cinema and culture spheres. Hence, literature is part of AGORA.

Thiruvananthapuram, Keralam’s capital city, is a vibrant yet elegant modern city. A combination of the old and the new, the city is well connected through air, rail and road transports. It is the administrative nerve centre of the state. Technopark at Kazhakkoottam, Thiruvananthapuram, is the country’s first IT park. It is also home to many educational institutions and research centres, including Bio Science Park, Thonnakkal, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, NIST, Pappanamcode, ISRO institutions including VSSC and IIST and IISER. Home to Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram has a rich and eclectic cultural prowess too. Hence, the city is an ideal destination for organizing the festival of ideas.

The first edition of AGORA is conceived as a free festival. But, delegates have to register. Online registration is now open at agora.asianetnews.in/register

The process is very easy. You have to log on to agora.asianetnews.in/register and answer a few queries including name, email id, mobile phone number. The pass will be dispatched to the registered email id.

Yes. Even if it is for one session or for all sessions in three days, a delegate needs to register online.

Yes. Option for spot registration will be there at the entry gates of Kanakakunnu Palace. However, if the seats are filled, the organizers will stop spot registration. Hence, it is advisable to register online.

No. We welcome students as delegates too as the topics to be discussed will be of great interest to them. For minor students, parental consent is necessary for registration.

Yes. Arrangements are being made to provide access to wheel-chair bound delegates at all gates. There will be facility for travel between venues for those who find it difficult to walk.

Most of the sessions in AGORA include a Q&A session at the end. We welcome all delegates to ask questions and share their views on the topic of debate concerned during that time.

There are panel discussions. There are conversations between two persons. There are solo talks and presentations. There are sessions in which the Speaker/Guest is ready to take questions from the delegates for the entire duration of the session.