This week, we devote this column to look at our own International Book Fair and adjunct activities including judgment of best literary awards.

The International Book Fair will be held at the BMICH from September 19 to September 27. This is perhaps the biggest book fair attracting a large number of Sri Lankan and foreign publishers under one roof. It is also a meeting place for book-fans from various parts of the country as well as from several parts of the globe.

What comes to my mind here is that some of the largest book fairs in the world, for example, the Frankfurt Book Fair (FFB) is the biggest professional platform worldwide for international book business and the place for you to make successful contacts. As a part of the FFB, every year in an informal setting, Business Breakfasts introduce important publishing markets to visitors from all over the world. In addition, the organizers arrange a seminar program. In the seminar programmes, the industry professionals share their knowledge; provide insights and understanding for the diverse areas of rights business and the marketing opportunities of the future.

In this regard, our Book Fair has a long march to compete and it is another story.

Given the large number of Sri Lankan publishers and book stores present at this annual Mecca of book publishers and book-fans, International Book Fair is an important event in the literary calendar of the country.

It is pertinent here to contemplate whether the literary surge that comes with the book fair is artificial and lasting only for a couple of days or would it contribute in the long run, to the creation of a vibrant literary culture in our country? Although Sri Lanka boasts of a higher literacy rate in the region, most of the publications including newspapers, books, and even literary works seem to be of inferior quality in terms of language and content. Unfortunately this negative trend is apparently replicating in Sri Lankan English literary circles. Obviously, the benchmark for publications should be set by Awards which would indirectly encourage higher quality books and literary works in terms of language and content. What about setting up professional platforms and seminar series, sharing knowledge to encourage new and young entreasures?

Gangsters

Looking at the composition of the award committees including the award committee for "Golden Book", it seems that most of the personnel, who make up of one award committee, are strangely happened to be in another award committee. The selection criteria also seem to be mysterious and non transparent. The question that often arises is whether these Award Committees are able to justify their selections if readers question about the quality of language and the content of the books. Some of the award committee members who have drawn from fields other than literature and apparently have little to do with literature, have readily accepted the positions in award committees, perhaps, reasons best known to them! Others though they have experience in the field of literature, are, it seems, out of touch with latest literary trends. Knowledge of latest literary trends is a sine qua non for award Committee members, particularly in determining the merits and the demerits of the product (novel) chosen for evaluation. Unfortunately, the same group of personalities of dubious reputation continues to occupy the chairs in award committees for literature. They also review tele-dramas for awards. The award committees are marked for their absence of gender balance. Some of the award committee members prompted by fame and name, had launched canvassing campaign through their students or abusing their position of authority.

Women representation in those committees seems to be nil. Given the socio-economic changes that have been taken place over the years, there are a lot of new comers, including a large number of women writers in the field.

Therefore, in my view, it is imperative to have women's perspective in almost every sphere of activities and this is applicable to literature as well.

Privileged class

As in any other fields, there is a group of privileged writers and poets. A significant aspect of members of this privileged club is that they seem to have obtained a kind of entitlement to awards. If these writers pen a book, their creations are automatically selected for awards irrespective of quality and content of the works. In other words, their creations are automatically earmarked for awards.

Contrary to the popular belief, they (creations) are, in fact, inferior in terms of quality and content. This privileged club is common to both Sinhala and English medium writers. One poet of Haiku fame recently launched an anthology of poetry purportedly claiming that the anthology contains poem in Haiku form. However, it seems that the poems in the anthology are like strewn haystack intended only for buffalows. A dramatist, who is famous for inserting utter filth into the works under the blanket of poetic license, has won an award for his latest scripts for dramas. Given the dramatist's dubious previous track records in the field, one may arrive at the conclusion that both the award committee and dramatist entertain the notion that either the filth is classical literature or classical literature is filth. The question to ask is on what basis (standard) such work has been evaluated. In a recent interview, our own international literary guru Professor Wimal Dissanayake with a radiant literary profile in several spheres of literature recently highlighted a pertinent point: "...we must also pay due attention to the question of standards. What is very badly needed today in the field of Sinhala literature is the establishment of standards.

Proverbial literary clowns

A proverbial literary clown, who guides a principle literary group, has been churning out creations which neither reflects the milieu nor the men and women living in it. Given the inferior quality of the creations by the literary clown and most of the recent awardees of the 'Ungracious Award', it seems the future of the Sri Lankan literature in English is rather bleak.

Immediate remedial actions have not been taken to arrest the present negative literary trend, if Sri Lankan authors in English intend to tap international market and to make Sri Lankan literature in English widely read beyond our limited shores.

Meditating author

It may be quite possible to have authors with eccentric behaviours and such authors had, in fact, been walking on the earth in flesh and blood. However, it is quite strange to have a meditating author or one who is publicly pronounced one' piety in terms of attire. The book by the meditating author is themed on delirious thoughts and reflects, by and large, the state of mind of the author. The meditating author is, among other things, enjoying a sizable congregation of disciples some of them happened to be in award committees. There is a popular yarn associated with the author in our recent folklore. It says that the author comes by a lorry to award ceremonies to take home host of awards.

Wijewardene Award

However, it should be mentioned here that D.R Wijewardene Memorial Award throughout the years has maintained a higher degree of transparency and integrity.

The awards are given purely on the basis of merits of the works. If there is any influence, it may be personal biases on the part of the members of the award committee. As the international book fair is around the corner, readers should bear in mind that they should browse a book, at least, twice, before purchasing without being lured by superficial badges of awards bestowed upon the literary artefact!