Between the love-struck teenagers following Rana Dasgupta around to the would-be novelists trailing Louise Doughty, the Galle Literary Festival 2010 delivered on its promise to give visitors a chance to bask in the company of their favourite authors. The Festival’s diverse programme showcased the work of not only novelists but dramatists, journalists, graphic novelists, historians, publishers and bloggers.
Despite a full calendar of sessions, festival goers still found time to sprawl with their freshly autographed novels on the many cushions piled invitingly under a tree in the café area. An unprecedented number of free sessions (12 in all) were complemented by an equal or greater number of fringe events. Among these were performances by the Ravibandu Vidyapathi Drum Ensemble and the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Company – both free.
The cobbled streets of Galle Fort led curious explorers from one discovery to the next, with several exhibitions located across multiple locations within the fort. Roadside cafes beckoned with a smorgasbord of treats while residents showed off their skills in traditional crafts such as lace making.
Those who stayed for the full four days were rewarded with a performance of a play that was the culmination of playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera’s three-day theatre workshop. Though the full programme was too extensive to do justice to here, these are some excerpts from four days of conversation and debate:
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| Rana Dasgupta |
Michelle de Kretser |
“ ‘I received an email from him which said, ‘I just wanted to alert you to an error …. You referred to a game of street cricket and you used the word stumps - I believe you mean bails.’ I was so, so thrilled …This was a manuscript that had been read by Australians, by Brits, they missed it completely. Trust a Sri Lankan to know his cricket”--
Michelle de Kretser on how Dr. Walter Perera of the Peradeniya University who was reading her manuscript of The Hamilton Case saved her some blushes.
“In fairytales when there’s a prince and princess we know they’re going to fall in love. You don’t have to explain that this guy grew up in this particular kind of household and that’s why he is particularly attracted to princesses” - Novelist Rana Dasgupta raising a point on the ‘flatness’ and one dimensional nature of the characters in fairytales.
“It was kind of a failed journalist’s revenge” - Mohammed Hanif, speaking of his ambitious investigation as a young journalist into the mysterious plane crash which killed Muhammed Zia ul-Haq, former President of Pakistan and the manifold layers of misinformation which surrounded the accident.
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| Sarnath Banerjee |
Mohammed Hanif |
“It’s like aubergines” – Graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee explaining that his dislike of Japanese manga comics, like his dislike of eggplant, is merely a matter of personal taste.
“My father, on the crux of the election, said ‘if you think it was hard to win a liberation struggle wait until you get into government and then you will see how hard it is.’ And I think that is absolutely true. In South Africa, it’s very hard and inequalities are terrible. We all know that countries that have huge differences and huge inequalities are not happy countries.
And South Africa is one. Am I optimistic? I like to be optimistic. I don’t know how realistic that is.” - Gillian Slovo, speaking about growing up in South Africa and her parents who sacrificed their lives in the struggle against Apartheid.
“I don’t feel I’m 80 because I’m always a child at heart. Everyday – till today – I dream up stories…I do illustrations and when I illustrate a book, I live in it… With every book I illustrate I become a new person” - Veteran writer and artist Sybil Wettasinghe discussing her life with Michael Meyler.
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| Sybil Wettasinghe |
Louise Doughty |
“My family were traditionally horse dealers but when that was over they went into the used car business.” - Louise Doughty on how her ancestors, the Romany Gypsies in Europe, have had to abandon their traditional traveller lifestyle in order to integrate into society.
“He made it very clear that he thought it was a great festival....and he made some points that were worth listening to” – an audience member on journalist Rajpal Abeynayake’s session. Dubbed the Resident Critic, Mr. Abeynayake voiced his concern that among other things the festival had held sessions at hotels that did not welcome Sri Lankan patrons. “He went off on a tangent and wasted everyone’s time” – an audience member voicing a differing opinion on Mr. Abeynayake’s session. She did declare, however, that she would not patronise establishments that refused to serve locals.
“I love P.D. James but Adam Dagleish has got to be a centenarian, he must be a 100 years old.” Crime writer Ian Rankin on why his own detective Inspector Rebus is set in real time.
“But it is a recurring theme in history that in times of war, armed conflict, or perceived national danger, even liberal democracies adopt measures infringing human rights in ways that are wholly disproportionate to the crisis.” – Gillian Slovo reading from her play Guantanamo Bay. The verbatim play was compiled from letters and interviews with Guantanamo Bay prisoners, their lawyers and relatives. The above was an excerpt from Lord Justice Steyn’s 2003 speech, delivered at a time when the detention centre was still cloaked in mystery.
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| Ian Rankin |
Diran Adebayo |
“When I leave the house, I put on my city face”- Diran Adebayo in conversation on ‘The Lives of Cities’.
“Is forgetting enough?” Pradeep Jeganathan, responding to an audience member’s observation at the session on post-conflict literature that in the short term someone who has lived through the war and suffered an overdose of violence would not be willing to read about it in-depth.
“It’s been really great. They’ve been talking about a lot of interesting topics which we usually don’t discuss everyday but I would definitely like to see more Sri Lankan writers at the next festival.” – a young literary enthusiast.
“It is more about the action and the romance, the sex and the blood, then about the clear cut shape of the plot.” – a participant on what he learnt at the workshop on writing pulp fiction. Other standard elements in a good pulp fiction story include gangsters, ghosts, and both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ girls.
“I ended up with two antagonists” - Shehan Karunatillake on the struggle for supremacy between his novel’s two protagonists, the sports journalist W.G. Karunasena and the cricketer Pradeep Mathew. W.G, cynical and alcoholic, was the unexpected victor.
“I thought there was a lot of emphasis given to politics, which I really liked...I liked the discussions on how they addressed the issue of conflict and resolution in novels” – an audience member on how much she enjoyed sessions like those of Mohammed Hanif that addressed political themes in fiction, adding that she wished that there were more basic facilities provided for visitors.
“We really enjoyed playing there. And as for me, I have long waited to play at the Galle Literary Festival.
I made a special composition inspired by the ancient literature of Ravana...I think in the future it is going to be a platform for serious artists to feature their work” - Ravibandu Vidyapathi, speaking of his much lauded ensemble’s performance at the Law Court Square inside the Fort.
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