New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): A specially curated lit fest, focussed on the genre of crime and thriller based novels, was inaugurated on Saturday morning in the Capital.

This is the third edition of a festival that was initiated in the 2015 and was earlier known as the The Crime Writers Festival. The inauguration of the three-day-long extravaganza took place at Oxford Bookstore where Priti Paul, the director of Apeejay Surrendra Group, welcomed the audience. 

The fest was officially inaugurated by eminent Indian writer, publisher and festival director Namita Gokhale. 

"The Noir Literature Festival is devoted to celebrating crime writing from India and abroad. The highlights are the diverse sub-genres being represented. 

"You have writer Surender Mohan Pathak's session, Vibhuti Narain Rai discussing his Hindi novel "Shahar Mein Curfew", Puja Changoiwala speaking about writing true crime stories, Paromita Vohra and Urvashi Butalia discussing crimes against women," said publisher Mita Kapur. 

"Crime writing has always been one of the most read genres in literature, more so in the West. It is still nascent in India, but we are growing steadily," she added. 

The programme for this year has sought to include many sub-genres of crime, with sessions on true crime, historical crime fiction, graphic novels, legal crime, detective fiction, fantasy crime fiction, crime reportage, gender crimes and many more such topical themes. 

Several sessions will be held in Hindi, as the works of illustrious writers such as Surender Mohan Pathak and Vibhuti Narain Rai are celebrated. Besides the sessions on crime writing, the festival also includes a Qrious Qrimes Quiz.