A typical Kandyan welcome with the Trinity College hewisi band

It was a wholly enthusiastic gathering as the first ever Ceylon Literary and Art Festival opened in the historic city of Kandy on February 8, at Trinity College Kandy.  The man behind the festival Ajai Vir Singh and curator Ashok Ferrey welcomed the audience and Trinity College Principal, Rev. Fr. Araliya Jayasundara spoke of how happy they were that the festival was held at Trinity. The young Trinitians ushered in and guided guests to the various events at different locations in the school very efficiently.

The first day saw a range of fascinating presentations and discussions with well-known authors: Savithri Rodrigo sat down with Sri Lanka’s own Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka while other sessions included world famous playwright Sir David Hare in conversation with Prof. Neluka Silva, and writers Shrabani Basu,  Carmel Miranda and Anita Nair in a session titled ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detectives’.  Another highlight was the David Paynter walk that took in the artist’s famous murals at the beautiful Trinity College chapel.

Impressive line-up: The authors and moderators for CLF's first edition

The decision to have the literary festival in Kandy was clearly much appreciated.  Rasika Udawela, a teacher of English language and literature at Mahamaya College Kandy who had come with her students said it was an inspiration to the students. “It is great,” she enthused. “It is the first time we met many writers at one venue. I had stopped reading due to my other work, but now this has inspired me to resume my interest in reading.”

“It’s great to have the CLF in Kandy. Long overdue!” said Dr. Rumala Morel, a fan of detective stories adding that when she heard Gratiaen Prize winner Carmel Miranda was coming “I just had to come! We studied together at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.”

Ajai Vir Singh addressing the gathering at the Trinity College hall

“So grateful to whoever included Kandy in this programme,” said Padmika Dissanaike, a CFO of a leading company, who had taken the day off to attend. Ravana Wijeyaratne, echoed her sentiments. “Finally in Kandy, how fantastic to have such a galaxy of creative writers in our midst.”

Professor of Forensic Medicine and Medical Education Deepthi Edussuriya said she was looking forward to the literary discussions and meeting writers, as were many students among the audience who were just overjoyed at the opportunity to hear so many famous authors. “Very amazing and a great opportunity. It was free for us University students and other students. I have studied most of these authors and it was great to meet them, understand their perspective in writing their novels. I write poems and short stories and I learnt a lot about theatre, playwriting and all forms of the literary art,” Paramee Silva, an Arts students at the University of Peradeniya  said.

Amna Zaman, a student at the Open University who also writes book reviews said she was glad to attend. “Kandy hasn’t had this type of event and I hope they will have more and we will have fruitful discussions of this type in the future. I am a person who loves to read, mostly fiction. These were timely discussions.”

“Great opportunity to meet authors who shared their experiences,” said Rehan, a student of Literature in Grade 10 at Trinity College while fellow Trinitian Nimuthu was “happy to listen to these authors from abroad.”

Leonie, who came all the way from Colombo to be a part of the festival was of the view that “the setting was very special and the venue was ideal.”

Veteran writer Kamala Wijeratne commenting on Shehan Karunatilaka’s session was appreciative of his sharing his writing experience. “Very versatile. He is not narrowly focused. He has written books for children also and has many translations done in Sinhala.”

She was also appreciative of the calibre of authors featured. “They are well known and recognized authors.”

Curator Ashok Ferrey was pleased with the turnout.  “Thrilled that we had the festival in Kandy and to my knowledge it is the first time you had an International Literary Festival in Kandy,” he said.

Mrinali Thalgodapitiya, one of the moderators believes the festival will encourage more people to write and spark an interest in learning the English language.  “Make it more inclusive and encourage non-English speaking young people to participate,” she added.

On Friday, in addition to the sessions, the Festival also extended to the iconic Kandy hotel  Helga’s Folly with a walk through to see the  architecture and the art displayed on the walls and ceiling done by the staff as well as guests.