Festival Curator's Guide to the Festival
The Galle Literary Festival is pleased to announce, with the opening of the box office, some thoughts by its Curator, Shyam Selvadurai, on writers and events festivalgoers might want to consider when making their choices.
In speaking about the programme, Shyam Selvadurai said, “The list is a great one and very diverse, full of engaging thinkers and writers. I am proud to present all of them to our audience. I am sure that festivalgoers will have no problem picking out well known writers like Sebastian Faulks, Meera Syal, Amitav Ghosh, Sonali Deraniyagala, Tom Holland or Gregory Pardlo among others. But I wanted to draw people’s attention to some other writers and events it would be a real shame to miss.”
Amitav Ghosh (left) and Anuradha Roy (right)
Among the writers and participants that Selvadurai suggests people consider are the following: Hugh Thomson, because he is a vivid speaker and his talk on Nanada Devi is a must see at the Festival. Jeet Thayil whose award winning book Narcopolis was one Selvadurai gave away constantly as a gift. Fiona Shaw: Sri Lankans might not be very aware of her because theatre is so geographically specific, but she is famous on the stages of London and New York.
Fiona Shaw (left) and Gregory Pardlo (right)
Anuradha Roy: Selvadurai says that, if he had to name 1 Indian writer to watch out for, it would be this award winner. Matt Haig, whose wonderful memoir Reasons to Stay Alive is about overcoming depression, an illness some Sri Lankans suffer from in silence, because of the taboo around mental illness here. Kenan Malik, because there is nothing so wonderful for an engaged mind as sitting in a room and listening to a great thinker work out a complex argument. Nayomi Munaweera, so beloved among Sri Lankan readers, many of who will get to meet her for the first time at the GLF. Andrea Maria Schenkel because one can always count on the European writers to take a genre, like the thriller, from pot boiler to art.
Hugh Thomson (left) and Jeet Thayil (right)
While declaring that it is really hard for him to select among the many wonderful and diverse events at the Festival, Selvadurai does suggest that festivalgoers not miss the following: The Galle Literary Festival Panel Out on Main Street: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Lives and Realities in the World. These issues have never been discussed at the Festival before and what makes this panel really engaging is its fine panelist and the fact that the focus is on lives lived by LGBTIQ people in non-Western countries.
Kenan Malik (left) and Matt Haig (right)
The Fairway Celebration of Sri Lanka panel on Contemporary Trends and Achievements in Sinhala Literature. Selvadurai listened to a similar panel at the A&K Litfest and was amazed by how much he could follow with his Simple Pass in O Level Sinhala. He is delighted that festivalgoers will get a chance to hear the wonderful way Sinhala writers plays with the English language and portray modern realities; and he hopes they will get past their insecurities around understanding Sinhala and attend.
Meera Syal (left) and Sebastian Faulks (right)
In a similar way, the Fairway Celebration of Sri Lanka Panel on Contemporary Tamil Poetry will introduce non-Tamil speakers to the rich and varied tradition of modern Tamil poetry. The discussion will be in English but the poems will be read in Tamil and then also in translation. The Galle Literary Festival Panel, The Art of the Thriller and Mystery Novel because who doesn’t love a good thriller? And it would enhance ones understanding of the genre to listen to some really fine practitioners reveal the secrets of their craft. Poetry Pharmacy: Very limited seats but this will be a fun event. Rohini Mohan and Samanth Subramanian on Sri Lanka’s War and Peace through Indian Eyes. Selvadurai, who thought he knew about Sri Lanka’s civil war, was both enlightened and moved by their books.
Sonali Deraniyagala (left) and Tom Holland (right)
Galle Literary Festival Panel on Historical Fiction. A genre that, most critics agree, is currently in its golden age, judging from its popularity and the number of prize winning novels out there. Once again, a chance to see how the genre works. The panel is also unique because it looks at the genre as it applies to South Asia. Saba Douglas-Hamilton on The Secret Life of Elephants. These magnificent beasts are so much a part of our life, our landscape and culture. This is a great opportunity to get to know them in a much deeper way. David Lough on Churchill and His Money. A truly great biography is one that reveals an iconic figure in a completely different light. Who would have thought the curmudgeonly Churchill was a spendthrift!
Tickets will be available for purchase from December 11th onwards through the wow.lk website. For those who prefer purchasing in person, there are 3 physical box offices: Colombo - Wow.lk, 176/1, Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5; Kandy - The Empire Cafe, Temple Street, Kandy; Galle - 27, Leyn Baan Street, Galle Fort. The box office hours are 9.30am – 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday. Please note: the Jaffna GLF is completely free. No tickets are sold. You just need to turn up at the Jaffna Public Library.
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