By IANS,
New Delhi : Book lovers in Kerala are in for a treat as the first Kovalam Literary Festival is set to get off to a star-studded start at the sprawling Taj Green Cove on the picturesque Kovalam beach next month.
The festival, which begins Oct 6 and ends Oct 8, is an attempt to give readers in Kerala, one of the most literate states in the country, an opportunity to hear their favourite authors read extracts from their new books and interact with them, said a spokesperson for Noctilucent, the event management firm handling the event.
“Kerala has a big market for Indo-Anglican writing. Most of the books written by Indian writers in English are translated into Malayalam and have a wide readership. Latin American authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa are also popular in Kerala and most of their books have been transcribed in Malayalam,” the spokesperson said.
The festival, said to be the first such event in south India, will be sponsored by the The Taj Group, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and publishing house, Penguin India.
Three authors will read out from their latest works at the festival, the spokesperson said.
“Tarun Tejpal will read from his yet-to-be-published novel ‘The Story of My Assassins’, cricketer Aakash Chopra will read extracts from his new book on the game, along with Shashi Tharoor,” he said.
The festival will also feature its glamour share of chick lit writers like Shobhaa De, who will read from her book “Superstar India”, and Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, who has authored “You Are Here”.
Writer Patrick French will read from the biography of V.S. Naipul, “The World is What It Is”, and will be in conversation with William Dalrymple later.
Award winning writers Namita Devidayal, author of “Music Room”, and Usha K.R., who wrote “The River And Us”, will read extracts from their books, followed by a session on “Writing In A Globalised World”.
The event will be attended by Mike Bryan, CEO of Penguin India, eminent writers K. Satchidanandan, Shashi Tharoor and editor-in-chief of Harper Collins V.K. Karthika. William Dalrymple will also participate in the fest with a talk about Christianity in Kerala.
Tharoor will deliver the third K.C. John Memorial Lecture on “Soft Power of India” at Siri Mulam Club.
“We plan to make the festival as big as the Jaipur Festival in another five years,” the spokesperson added.