Chariots of Fire producer, Booker Prize winner among exciting line-up for FGLF
Film producer David Puttnam of Chariots of Fire fame
The Fairway Galle Literary Festival will be held from January 24-28, 2018 at the Galle Fort and its much-awaited first author reveal was held this week. This is the first of two author reveals which will be held to announce the full list of participants numbering around 70.
The line-up for 2018 revealed so far is a fascinating mix: Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan, award-winning film producer David Puttnam of Chariots of Fire fame, children’s author Francesca Simon, author and history buff Shrabani Basu, former editor of the Times of India Bachi Karkaria, British journalist Katharine Norbury, Pakistani journalist Laaleen Sukhera and essayist and author Pankaj Mishra, writer, critic and musician Amit Chaudhuri as well as promising new author Shankari Chandran.
The sponsors and organisers of FGLF 2018 at the news conference. Pic by Sameera Weerasekera
Returning to FGLF are well known names such as Alexander McCall Smith, Louis de Bernieres, Nayomi Munaweera, Sebastian Faulks, Shehan Karunatilaka and Ashok Ferrey.
Among the well-known visiting authors, Shrabani Basu’s book ‘Victoria and Abdul’ is now a much talked about film, Francesca Simon is author of the famous set of children’s novels, the ‘Horrid Henry’ series, Alexander McCall Smith is the man behind the bestselling series ‘No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency’, while Bachi Karkaria’s novel ‘In hot blood’ is the first non-fiction account of
Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan
the Nanavati murder case in India. Katharine Norbury’s travel memoir ‘The Fish Ladder’ has seen her named the Observer’s rising star in non-fiction. Laaleena Sukhera will be talking about her latest book (which is yet to be released) ‘Austenistan’, which will look at the similarities between England in the time of Jane Austen and modern day Pakistan.
Also on the list are internationally known legal heavyweight Sir Desmond de Silva who recently released his ‘episodic memoir’ – “Madam Where Are Your Mangoes?” and Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere whose book ‘The Doomed King’ has attracted much attention. This year’s Gratiaen Prize winner Charulatha Abeysekera is also to speak at the festival.
Explaining the many ways in which the festival has been able to benefit Sri Lanka over the years with the help of
the sponsors, festival director Janitha Dias Bandaranayake commented that “this partnership is for Sri Lanka.” Festival curator Jill Macdonald feels that the festival is open to any book which is written in English. “The programme has been put together to reflect the diversity of writing in English,” she commented.
Shrabani Basu’s book ‘Victoria and Abdul’ is now a much talked about film
Group Chief Executive Officer and Director of Fairway Holdings (the title sponsor) Imal Fonseka stated that they are happy to be a part of the event because it has been beneficial for the island.
Apart from the full programme of talks and workshops, there will be outreach programmes through which the organisers aim to reach a larger audience. The North-South university programme will see selected university students attend the festival for free, while the teacher training programme will have authors working with teachers from the Amarasuriya Training Centre in Galle. The children’s outreach programme will see children of four less privileged schools in Galle and children of the Music Project from Jaffna and Kurunegala taking part as well.
The second author reveal is scheduled for mid November. The books being discussed at the festival will be available at the Barefoot bookshop soon. For a full list of the participants revealed during the first author reveal, please visit the official website https://galleliteraryfestival.com/participants-2018/.