As a culturally enriched state, Goa is proving to
be a fertile ground for various artistic and literary exchanges and meets. The
International Writers and Readers Festival which kick-starts its first edition
in Goa today is bringing together an enviable bank of seasoned and new writers,
readers and authors. “Goa’s literary and cultural diversity makes it the right
place to host such an event. Moreover, it is the only state where there is
literature from six different languages. We want this festival to be a platform
and international window for voices coming out of Goa. It will place Goa on the
international literary map,” avers Founder Alaham Anil Kumar, Director, The
Book Court and Founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival.
Endorsing Goa as the best place in India to
nourish literature, poet and novelist C P Surendran is also heartened by the
fact that literature is beginning to be taken seriously in India. “The thing to
do is to have good prize money in India for writers from corporate and
government bodies. We can easily set up an Indian Booker prize here.” Another
encouraging trend is that regional writing is coming of age in terms of English
translations which are now giving the writers an international window,”
maintains Surendran, whose first session will focus on this very aspect of
‘living in India and writing in English’.
With an impressive lineup of well established and
prize winning authors/writers, poets, playwrights, editors and publishers
(including Harper Collins, Pan Macmillan) from abroad, India and Goa, the
three-day festival from October 4 to 6, 2014 at Kala Academy promises to be a
literary treat. From discussions on different genres of writing, workshops on
creative and essay writing, poetry recitals, book readings and releases, panel
talks, writing in Goan regional languages (Konkani, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi
besides English and Portuguese), in addition to meetings with editors and
publishers, every aspect of the literary world is packed into a finely tuned
schedule. For the first time, children will enjoy a participation in the fest.
Another first is a publisher’s enclosure, by a leading publisher, which will
allow new writers to discuss and show their manuscripts for on-the-spot
approval and probable book-writing contracts.
