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Patrons and Sponsors of Galle Literary Festival including Maithri Wickremasinghe were sighted among the Audience
From left: Fairway Holdings Group Director and Chief Operating Officer Shivanka De Zoysa, Galle Literary Festival Director Amrita Pieris, Jetwing Head of Sales and Marketing Ishantha Gunawardene, DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Founder Surina Narula, Fairway National Literary Awards Literary Director Janaka Inimankada and Fairway Holdings Group Director and Chief Marketing Officer Taffy Alahakoon
By Sarah Hannan
The Galle Literary Festival (GLF) is back with new developments in the pipeline for 2016.
The next instalment will see two mini-festivals taking place in Kandy and Jaffna apart from the main festival that takes place in Galle. The main festival in Galle will take place during five days starting from 13 January and ending on 17 January. The Kandy festival will take place on 9 and 10 January, while the Jaffna festival will take place on 23 and 24 January.
The festival is set to feature international writers and artists showcasing diverse literary and artistic styles as well as local writers and artists from the three main districts promoting their unique cultural background.
To keep things more interactive and interesting the organisers have scheduled a full range of activities including musical and theatrical concerts, art installations, fashion shows, garden and architectural tours, gastronomic journeys, community initiatives and photographic exhibitions along with many fringe events.
During the media briefing Galle Literary Festival Director Amrita Pieris welcomed the title sponsor for GLF 2016, Fairway Holdings. She stated: “Fairway Holdings has got on board to sponsor the festival for the next three years. Hence the festival will be known as Fairway Galle Literary Festival here on. They have also extended their generosity by introducing an award scheme for locally published novels in Sinhala, Tamil and English from this year onwards.”
As in the previous festivals in 2016 the GLF will be carrying out three outreach programs for children. These programs will offer the participating children an opportunity to meet and learn from a number of international and local authors and artists.
Over 2,500 children are expected to take part at the Children’s Festival which will take place at Dharmapala Children’s Park in Galle. 250 children will be hosted each in Kandy and Jaffna during the Galle Literary Festival School’s Days with a total of 80 Teachers brought in to these programs that will offer them innovative teaching skills which they could share with their colleagues when they go back to their educational institutes.
Those interested in volunteering or even contributing in other ways are encouraged to contact the festival secretariat via [email protected] for further information or by visiting www.galleliteraryfestival.com.
Pix by Shehan Gunasekara
A new award is introduced by Fairway Holdings for the best literary work in Sinhala, Tamil and English by Sri Lankan authors. Accordingly novels published in 2014/15 in the two national languages and English will be eligible to win this prize.
Five publications from each language will be shortlisted for this award and the best novel comprising the most excellent and creative work from each stream as per the decision of the panel of judges will be eligible for a cash award of Rs. 500,000. Additionally, every book that has been shortlisted will earn a reward of Rs. 100,000.
The Award Ceremony will be broad based in three main cities of the island with the intention of reviving creative writing in different geographical areas. Thus the Award for the Best Novel in Sinhala will be held in Kandy, the Award for the Best Novel in Tamil in Jaffna and the Award for the Best Novel in English in Galle to coincide with the landmark Galle Literary Festival.
Entries will be open from 1 August 2015 till 1 September 2015. Entry forms can be downloaded from the web site www.fairwayholdings.com or obtained by sending a self-addressed envelope to ‘The Coordinator-Book Award, ‘The Fairways’ #100, Buthgamuwa Road, Rajagiriya 10107.’ Alternatively, you may contact them on +94 117 586586.
