SriLankan celebrates the 'Written Word'
 

Rana Dasgupta, Diran Adebayo and Antonia Michaelis discuss Fables and Fairy Tales returning to ancient forms of story-telling

Contributing its share to the celebration of letters in the City of Galle with the Galle Literary Festival of 2010, SriLankan Air sponsored world renowned writers, authors and poets' travel from Europe and Asia in support of art, culture and literary tourism in Sri Lanka.

The 4th Galle Literary Festival showcased new and acclaimed literary personalities such as historians, poets, playwrights, novelists and biographers who provoked thought, dreams, laughter and debate for five consecutive days.

Also this year, it introduced new dimensions to its usual programme by presenting illustrations of Indian 'pulp' fiction and featuring several poets. It included a programme to guide children to the world of books and the expression of writing.

For the first time, Southern Provincial schools participated in seminars and workshops on writing as an extension to the outreach programme conducted for local schools throughout the year.

"Galle Literary Festival has certainly come of age, "said its founder, Geoffrey Dobbs, "and people look forward to this annual event that inspires writers and book-lovers in the region. However, we hope to keep a small and intimate atmosphere, within the walls and vicinity of this ideal location, the Galle Fort " he said.

SriLankan welcome for writers (from left) Louise Doughty, Diran Adebayo, Gillian Slovo and Wendy Cope

Among the colourful line-up of writers flown in by SriLankan Airlines were the British historian Anthony Beever, author of the best-sellers - Berlin -The Downfall and D-Day - The Battle of Normandy and his wife Artemis Cooper, an author and biographer currently working on the biography of travel writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor; Diran Adebayo, writer, novelist, TV documentarist, named by The Evening Standard of UK as 'one of London's most influential people; Gillian Slovo, London-based South African novelist; Louise Doughty, author of five novels and Judge of the Man Booker Prize, 2008, here with her latest novel 'Whatever You Love' ; Poet Jackie Kay, based in Manchester, was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in 2006; award-winning contemporary English Poet, Wendy Cope with her latest book - Two Cures for Love; British Indian novelist Rana Dasgupta, who's book Solo 'is the work of the most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation' affirms Salmon Rushdie; Cinamatographer and writer Monica Narula; graphic novelist, artist and film-maker, Sarnath Banerjee; Sandhya Rao, editor of high quality childrens' books in India; and Indian novelist, Amit Varma named by Business Week 'as one of India's 50 Most Powerful People'.

SriLankan Airlines is a pioneer sponsor of the Galle Literary Festival having been its festival carrier for the fourth consecutive years. IT