Galle: All set to put best foot forward

In this, its second year, one can see the Galle Literary Festival making the switch from an innovative novelty, to an established annual event on the literary calendar. The transition so far seems to be surprisingly smooth. On debut, the festival beat the likes of the Hay Festival in Columbia, the Wexford Book Festival in Ireland and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali to be named the No.1 Literary Festival in the world by the U.K based Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Now, in the final run-up to the festival, the organisers are going all out to ensure that the encore will be worth the hype.

“Some of our key international authors are already here, and travelling around experiencing Sri Lanka,” said Festival Director Libby Southwell, adding that everyone seemed to be gearing up. “The final programmes have been printed, the exhibitions are being installed, and essentially, the die is cast,” she said. All that remains is for visitors to “come and enjoy a fantastic four days.”

It’s an invitation that you may find hard to resist backed as it is by a guest list that includes Vikram Seth, Shyam Selvadurai, Karen Roberts, M.J Akbar, Jean Arasanayagam, Alexander McCall Smith, Punyakante Wijenaike, Yasmine Gooneratne, William Dalrymple, Elmo Jayawardena, Ashok Ferrey, Carl Muller, Tim Severin, Gore Vidal and Jung Chang.

This star studded literary line-up, combined with the intimacy, and quaint, old fashioned loveliness offered by the venue have proved an irresistible draw, and quite a few feature events are sold out. However, tickets for most main events are still available.

The Festival, which begins on Wednesday, January 16 will be spread out across several venues in the UN World Heritage Site of Galle Fort – including the Maritime Museum and the Hall de Galle. Feature events, which in some cases allow visitors to the festival a chance to get on familiar terms with their favourite authors over a meal, are hosted in renovated colonial homes and star class hotels in the area.

It’s a difficult business selecting highlights from the festival programme – in most part because it feels like every event will have its own admirers. Aside from the sessions featuring famous novelists, there’s plenty to interest and intrigue. For would-be linguists and lexicographers, the session ‘English in Sri Lanka’ featuring Richard Boyle and Michael Meyler is a must see. For cricket fans, ‘Cricket Mania!’ featuring several authors and Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara ought to be an immediate favourite. For would-be authors, ‘The Role of the Publisher’ with representatives from global and Sri Lankan publishing houses discussing the ins and outs of finding talent, editing, marketing and distributing, may very well be the answer to their prayers.

Considering that the Festival is in Sri Lanka, one is justified in asking what impact it has on the profiles of local authors. The response of Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series may give us some indication that it is a positive one. Talking about his desire to speak with both William Dalrymple and Vikram Seth, the author added, “I also hope to meet as many Sri Lankan authors as possible - I have read about some of the people coming and I am keen to meet them. It seems that you have a very active literary scene in Sri Lanka and I look forward to learning more about it.”

That having been said, the festival aspires to do far more than drum up publicity for its stars. Libby reveals that among the key functions of the festival is that of acting like a “springboard” from which a number of community initiatives can be launched. Included in the list are workshops and competitions which benefit children in Southern Province schools. In addition, exhibitions like “The world through 80 Fort lives,” and lectures that highlight the unique cultural heritage of the Fort, and an emphatic focus on the environment with recycling and garbage separation projects have been tied in. Many events, including an interesting children’s programme, evening entertainments, lectures and seminars are free of charge.

For its part, Galle seems ready to put its best foot forward. As demand for rooms and services soars, it’s apparent that the Festival is good news for hoteliers not only in Galle itself, but in neighbouring Unawatuna, and Hikkaduwa as well. Schoolchildren and members of the Fort community have already cleaned the beaches in and around Galle Fort in anticipation of arriving festival-goers.

For more details visit the festival website: www.galleliteraryfestival.com. Tickets are currently on sale at the Barefoot stores in Colombo and in Galle.