The Kovalam Literary Festival, which annually brings the best of Indian English literature to the city, traces its roots to a lecture series. In 2006, William Dalrymple came down for the annual K.C. John lecture at the VJT Hall.
“The VJT hall was filled to the brim with people, eager to listen to him. After the lecture, there was a long queue to get his autograph on books. That was when I realised that we have a crowd big enough to organise a literary festival. Two years later, in 2006, we launched the Kovalam Literary Festival,” says Binoo K. John, Director of the Kovalam Literary Festival.
This year’s edition of the festival to be held at the VJT Hall on October 22 will exclusively focus on non-fiction English writing from India. The festival will open with the K.C. John Memorial lecture by Carnatic vocalist and Magsaysay Award winner T.M. Krishna.
The musician, who wrote A Southern Music will also participate in a session with journalist and culture critic Sadanand Menon.
Lekshmy Rajeev, who wrote the controversial Attukal Amma: The Goddess of Millions, will be in conversation with journalist and author Suneeta Balakrishnan.
Chai, curry, cricket
In the session titled Longing, belonging and ways of looking , Bishwanath Ghosh, author of Chai, chai and Binoo K. John, author of Curry Coast: Travels in Malabar will be in conversation with journalist Suresh Menon, author of Pataudi: Nawab of cricket .
War memories
In the session titled War and memory , Raghu Karnad, author of Farthest field - An Indian story of the Second World War will be in conversation with Suresh Menon.
Rohini Mohan, author of The Season of Trouble: Life amid the ruins of Sri Lanka’s Civil War, will be in conversation with Sadanand Menon.
1984 riots
Manoj Mitta, author of When a Tree Shook Delhi on the 1984 riots in Delhi and Fiction of Fact-finding on the 2002 Gujarat riots, will be in conversation with Rebecca John.
In the session titled Royalty and Lineage , Manu Pillai, author of The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the Travancore Royal Family will be in conversation with novelist Shreekumar Varma.
The literary festival will close with a talk on The future of novel by writer M. Mukundan.
Season starter
“The Kovalam festival, since it is placed right at the beginning of the literary festival season, has managed to bring many new writers into the limelight over the years. Several writers, who have come to the festival as virtual unknowns, have gone on to win major literary prizes. So, that way, this is a lucky festival for writers,” says Mr. Binoo.
Free entry
The festival is supported by Kerala Tourism and Taj Hotels.
It is open to the general public and entry is free.
