The fifth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival, which opens on the Kozhikode Beach on Thursday, promises plenty for the literary and cultural enthusiasts of Malabar and beyond. About 500 speakers, including several from overseas, will speak in 215 sessions over four days.
The good thing about the KLF is that it covers a wide spectrum and is not merely about literature. Environment is one of the themes for this year's festival.
The man whose name crops up about in just about every discussion for the last couple of years, following the massive floods that devastated the State, Madhav Gadgil, will be the biggest attraction in the segment on environment along with UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.
History is another theme that will have multiple sessions. A host of historians, including Ramachandra Guha and William Dalrymple, are among the speakers.
Writers from different Indian languages and English would, of course, handle many sessions. Some of them such as Shashi Tharoor will feature in multiple programmes.
“We are glad that some of our speakers, such as Tharoor, have also agreed to moderate some sessions,” Ravi Deecee, the man behind the festival, told The Hindu .
Spain, country in focus
Spain, Ravi added, was the country in focus of the KLF this time around. “The language we are focussing this year is Tamil,” he said.
Besides literature, there will be discussions on topics such as cinema, music, politics, sports, science and feminism. The impressive list of speakers include Anand, K. Satchidanandan, T. Padmanabhan, M. Mukundan, Zacharia, Taslima Nasrin, Devdutt Pattanaik, T.M. Krishna, Jairam Ramesh, Kapil Sibal, Chetan Bhagat, Karan Thapar, I.M. Vijayan, Keith Jarrett, Kalamandalam Gopi, M. Jayachandran, Alka Pande, Nandita Das, Padmapriya and Mamta Mohandas.
