TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Northeast India seems to be the flavour of the season in Goa. After the proposed special focus on the region at the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the fourth Goa Arts and Literary Festival (GALF) will also celebrate art and literature from Assam this year.
Scheduled from December 5 to 8, GALF will bring together more than 25 authors, artists and poets from Assam. A rare attraction is the performances by a troupe of young Buddhist monks from the Uttar Kamalabari Satra (ashram), who rarely travel outside their island Majuli, a large riverine island in Jorhat district.
At the inauguration ceremony at Kala Academy on December 5, noted Goan scholar Meera Kosambi will release her path-breaking compilation of D D Kosambi’s writings and also discuss her illustrious father and grandfather in a conversation with Lord Meghnad Desai.
In addition to the delegation from Assam, GALF will play host to more than 20 confirmed delegates from Pakistan, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom and about 60 delegates from various parts of India. This year, the festival will also bring to town two Goan expats Cyril Almeida, a journalist with Dawn newspaper in Pakistan and Floyd Cardoz, an eminent chef in New York.
Speaking about the event, Nandini Sahai, co-founder and festival director, says, “This edition of GALF also features a good line up of poets. From stalwarts such as Gulzar, Satchidanandan and Eunice de Souza to younger stars such as Meena Kandasamy and Ranjit Hoskote.
