The Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) had a colourful opening on the Kozhikode beach on Thursday. Writer Paul Zacharia inaugurated the festival in the presence of writers Jaggi Vasudev, Ari Sitas, Qaisra Shahraz, and Evald Flisar; A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA; festival director K. Satchidanandan; and chief facilitator Ravi Dee Cee.
A student KLF was the first of the events. There were two face-to-face sessions, one between atheist writer C. Ravichandran and science writer Jeevan Job Thomas and another between writers Benyamin and P.T. Muhammed Sadique.
Campus theatre
At a discussion on campus theatre, theatre personalities A. Shanthakumar and Gireesh P.C. discussed the present, past, and future of campus theatre.
The highlight of the day was a conversation between writer and mystic Jaggi Vasudev and journalist Sashi Kumar. Mr. Vasudev maintained that India was as secular as it could be and that he supported any elected democratic government as the absence of democracy would be a worse situation. Actor Manju Warrier later joined the conversation.
