Dazzling Literati Shines at the Galle Literary Festival 2008

It was four days of literary activity where writers,artists, poets, architects, designers and many others connected to the literary field in one way or the other met up to discuss and debate, exchange ideas or even getting to know each other.

As the poet and writer Vikram Seth said as an opening remark to a comment made by Gore Vidal about how he was initially impressed by Seth's work some years ago and went further to state "...and imet him again here today" Vikram Seth stated that he had never met Gore Vidal before but in a way it may be true that they have met through each others books "...in fact when you read some body's work, you tend to meet that person in that process" said Seth.

There were many heart warming incidents such as that and it was so interesting to see the effort that the organisers put in to make the event a successful one. The Galle Literary Festival is now billed to an annual event.

At least for the next 2 years as the founder of the event Geoffery Dobbs commended Sri Lanka Telecom for extending it's arm of acceptance by joining as the Festival Partner for this year and for the next two years as well.

by Nilma Dole

We will run to higher ground,
and gathered there
with our children,
our cats, dogs,
pigs, with what we've
carried in our hands
'albums, letters'
we will make a circle,
kneel, sit,
stand in no particular
direction, pray
and be silent,
open our lungs
and shout thanks
to our gods
thanks to our dogs.*

A serene voice engulfs the sea-sprayed air of Galle possessed by the distinguished essayist, poet and author Indran Amirthanayagam.

His melodramatic reenactment of the tsunami in his prose provoked melting of hearts at the official inauguration of the Galle Literary Festival 2008 on the 16th of January. This talented gentleman shared the literary paneled bench with festival directors, renowned writers and supportive sponsors.

Geoffrey Dobbs, who coined the idea of this wonderful Literary Festival aims to bring heart, soul and success to this historical UN World Heritage Galle Fort through the festival which he chairs with the assistance of that happy-go-lucky writer of Monsoon Rains and Icicle Drops, Libby Southwell.

Deemed last year by international magazine Harper's Bazaar as the number one literary festival in the world, the Galle Literary Festival 2008 looks to retain its title with this brilliant five-day literary programme on the itinerary.

Writing workshops and competitions, panel discussions, 'literary lunches', cooking demonstrations, topical debates on issues like climate change, poetry readings, theatre and children's activities will enthrall and inspire literary enthusiasts.

Renowned novelist, essayist and playwright Gore Vidal will take patrons on his sixty year writing journey and an opportunity to rub shoulders with renowned poet and novelist Vikram Seth will be memorable.

In fact, even though Vidal started off complaining about a lost a nice shirt on his lost luggage, Seth replied in the affirmative that "Even though I lost my pair of underwear when I was an impoverished student, I managed to squeeze 100 dollars (from Social Service) to get myself three shirts that accompany me everywhere till today."

Creator of the international best selling series The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith is another high profile newcomer to the festival while journalist Simon Winchester, historian William Dalrymple and award winning cookery writer and TV chef, Sophie Grigson also will grace the occasion.

Sad to say due to unavoidable circumstances, Shobaa De and Sri Lankan writer Carl Muller couldn't be present.

Winchester had a enlightening lecture about Sri Lankan English being used here with Mike Myers another participant who has great knowledge about Sri Lankan English.

Richard Boyle, a consultant to the Oxford Dictionary also enlightened patrons on how and why Sri Lankans use English like they do and the various influences acquired from Malaysia, India, Latin and Portuguese origins.

Local greats in literature Yasmine Gooneratne Indran Arasanayagam, Punyakante Wijenaike and Shyam Selvadurai also helped in this wonderful initiative to inspire literature in Sri Lanka.

Elmo Jayawardena launched his book, 'Rainbows in Braille' where he had a tete-a-tete with Deepika Shetty to "I hope someone can help a biscuit maker I know publish a book" and he related a story about a polio-crippled student who studied hard to even obtain his Ph.D and his goal was to fund a student like him to study.

Such stories within stories are the strings that tie these literature powers together and that reflects in the Galle Literary Festival.

The theme of the festival is more important since 'Climate Change' is on the agenda where literary participants and patrons all will reduce their carbon emissions by planting a tree with the Rainforest Rescue International program. Moreover, a beach clean up project and going for a carbon-reduction policy whilst publishing books will aim to foster a love for Mother Nature.

Climate Change experts like Rory Spowers and Kim Kindersley will also offer their views and insights about the Climate Change impact and an environment-friendly Galle Literary Festival.

The Graffiti wall is a nice reminder for people who want to write poetry and write anything magically literary to make their presence felt forever while the supportive sponsors ensured that the Galle Literary Festival ran smoothly.