GLF 2011 promises to be bigger and better

With the much anticipated Galle Literary Festival 2011 now officially underway, the organising committee of this year’s event, which is being held for the fifth consecutive year, assured that the event which has come a long way and grown from strength to strength since its humble and inspired beginnings will be bigger and better this year around with some additions made to its usual line-up.

The festival kicked off in Colombo on 20 January with a special event with renowned British author Louis de Bernieres, the famed author of Captain Corelli’s Mandalin who shared his thoughts on his famous novel and mingled with his audience over cocktails and dinner.

The fest then moves to Galle where a packed four days starting on 27 to 30 January will enthral attendees, especially with the additions made to this year’s programme.

This year, the spotlight of the festival will focus on Malaysia, with Malaysian writers, poets and chefs providing a glimpse into the country’s multi-ethnic society. Other new features include Round Table Readings, which is an extension of the popular panel discussions so as to allow authors time to provide context to their thoughts on their life’s work and experiences.

Another similar feature is the Breakfast Book Club, an intimate gathering over breakfast that allows the audience to quiz the author over their creative process. Tea and Poetry, just as the title describes, will allow the magic of poetry to take you away as you relax in the afternoon with a tea in the many terraces or verandahs or in a secluded garden. There will also be free events during lunchtime that highlight Indian and Sri Lankan music, dance and drama.

Another first will be the BBC World Forum, a show that brings together innovative thinkers to put forward new ideas, hosted by BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall which will be broadcast to over 40 million listeners.

A widely anticipated event this year is the Sex in the Sarong Dinner with Candace Bushnell and Jay McInerney in the most intimate location in Sri Lanka, Taprobane Island. After dinner, guests can choose to dance the night away in Aqua, the latest boutique hotel on the Thalpe Riviera or head to Dick’s Bar at The Sun House to listen to the De Lanerolle brothers singing jazz and your favourite show time classics.

The Galle Literary Festival outreach programme for children in the Southern Province continues to grow. Throughout the year, they have conducted creative writing workshops, debating tournaments, art exhibitions and training and development for teachers throughout the year. In September, a creative writing competition for the 230 students that have taken part this year was conducted and the overall winner will have their story read at the festival.

Once again, the festival will have a school day, on the final day, which will be completely free for local school students, where attending authors will help them improve their English skills and gain an appreciation of literature.

Finally the North-South Collaboration, a programme sponsored by the American Centre will bring university students from the North East and South to the Festival. The students are chosen to reflect their linguistic, ethnic and social diversity of the country and in an atmosphere of learning, they will interact with their peers to gain a better understanding of each other.

The Galle Literary Festival has received a great deal of support from their numerous sponsors this year ranging from private sponsors to NGOs to embassies. The Fest has become more than just the appreciation of literary works and has grown in stature to incorporate architecture, wildlife, fine dining and various other aspects, truly awakening the town of Galle and supporting the development of the country as a whole.

Freedom of expression

Reporters Without Borders and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a network of exiled Sri Lankan journalists, announced the launch of an international appeal already signed by authors Noam Chomsky, Arundathi Roy, Ken Loach, Antony Loewenstein and Tariq Ali, asking writers and intellectuals to endorse a campaign for more freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.

Drawing attention to the first anniversary of the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda who was kidnapped on 24 January 2010, the signatories of this appeal called for attendees of the Galle Literary Festival to consider this situation before deciding to attend the festival as organisations such as Reporters Without Borders and JDS find it highly disturbing that literature is being celebrated in this manner in a land where cartoonists, journalists, writers and dissident voices are so often victimised by the current Government, hence bringing forth this appeal.

These allegations were immediately dismissed by the organising committee of the Galle Literary Festival, with Festival Curator Shyam Selvadurai calling the appeal “appalling ridiculous”. The committee went on to explain that the promotion of the freedom of speech was one of the key goals of the festival and has always so obviously been so all along they never felt the need to promote it openly.

Inviting authors, poets and other noted literary geniuses from across the world to openly speak their mind freely on any topic at the festival and initiating open debates amongst the audience in fact seems more of a step towards encouraging freedom of expression rather than hindering it, as pointed out by the organising committee.