Fairway Galle Literary Festival returns for its 8th Festival! 

The inauguration of the Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2017 took at the Law Court Square in the Galle Fort in grand ceremony courtesy of the Sri Lankan Tri-Forces. The Secretary to the Minister of Law and Order and Prison Reforms, Mr. Jagath P Wijeweera was the Chief Guest of the evening. 

The opening included an array of performances by the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air Force backed by the Sri Lanka Army Orchestra. From performances dating back to the age of royalty, showcasing the talents of ancient martial arts to dances depicting the movements of animals such as peacocks, eagles and swans were executed perfectly by the Tri-Forces. Other items at the opening ceremony included pooja dances, low country mask dances, folk songs and fire dances that gave the audience a rich insight to Sri Lanka’s deep cultural history. 

At the official opening ceremony of the FGLF, we caught up with a few authors and attendees of the festival to ask a little about their expectations for this festival; 

“I am looking forward to four great days of the Festival. Absolutely excited for the cookery classes and the workshops and most importantly to our first ever Sinhala Day happening on Saturday” – Amrita Peiris, Festival Director 

“This year I’m hoping that the Festival gets bigger and better than last year and as always it’s great to be a sponsor of an event like this” – Hemaka De Alwis, Fairway Holdings 

“I’m looking forward to seeing David McDonald, Katherine Boo and just so many of the other Festival authors!” – Saluka Kotagama, Media Coordinator 

“This is my second time here. I’ve already done a few workshops and it went fantastically and I was so happy to see the children respond really well as I got them singing and dancing. I’m looking forward to my other workshops at the Festival!” - Jeeva Raghunath 

“I’ve been in the country for about 10 days and I’m amazed at the variety and the different cultures you can find in this island so I’m excited to see what one can find in Sri Lanka’s literary culture” – Colm Toibin 

“I’m really happy to see so many poets at the festival and I’m so excited to see Luke Wright and Kate Tempest perform. As for me, I’m equally excited for my few sessions and even more excited for taking part in the Children’s Festival” – Jemima Foxtrot 

“The Fairway Galle Literary Festival is an absolutely magical Festival and I’m honoured to be here today and so honoured to be taking part in this festival” – Kishani Jayasinghe 

“Excited to be here with all these writers, it’s great to be back in Sri Lanka and I’m just going to catch as many panels as I can! Happy to be here!” – Nayomi Munaweera 

“I’m looking forward to showing my work and seeing how the audience reacts. I’ve heard great things about this festival” – Malika Booker 

“It’s huge thing for me because it’s like a homecoming for me having lived in this country before. I feel so welcome and I feel at home here so I just had to come back for the Literary Festival and I’m really excited for my performance as this would be my first in Sri Lanka!” – Tricity Vogue