Books, beaches and beer at Goa's literature fest

At 3,702 sq km, Goa may be as large as Polynesia, but it's still the smallest state in country. Yet it is home to six different languages — Konkani, English, Kannada, Marathi, Portuguese and Hindi. Despite being a bearer of this rich literary legacy of all these tongues, it has not had a literary platform to celebrate them. "It is this vacuum that we were trying to fill," said Alaham Anil Kumar, founder-director of the International Writers and Readers Festival (IWRF), to be held from October 4-6.

"There is a tendency to make lit fests very 'English-only' affairs. For a country which has rich literary roots that go so far back in time, this is grossly unfair. We want to address this with this festival, which will bring literary greats from all the six languages of Goa on the same platform as the global greats who will be part of the festival." He is quick to add: "One is aware Goa already has a lit fest, but there is no harm for a community to have multiple literary activities. The marking of the cultural calendar of any place with such literary activities is evidence of the rich thinking tradition that is celebrated there."

Kumar should know. When this Kannadiga from Bangalore returned from Hong Kong after an 11-year-stay, he was shocked that the city had no literature festival to speak of. "A few like-minded people came together to start one there and the response was tumultuous," he remembers. "When we started the Bangalore Literature Festival, there was already a small festival in the city but the reading community was deprived of interaction with their favourite authors coming from far off places. We bridged that gap by inviting some of India's greatest names to the garden city. I clearly remember that for a Saturday morning 9am poetry session, there were at least 3,000 people in attendance. This was possible because of the central location of the arena. So, programming, location and reaching out to interest groups via marketing activities are key for any festival to succeed."

It was then that the germ of the idea behind the non-ticketed and open-for-the-public International Writers and Readers Festival was born. "We want to bring reputed authors and highest literary award-winners from across the globe to Goa to celebrate literature along with five-six languages under the same roof. This effort will help put Goa on the world literary map. Such an event will welcome intelligent tourists, making the state an alternative cultural capital of the country."

He says the choice of Goa makes perfect sense given its place on the tourist map. "It's like a place which has been ready for this idea for long," he says of the three-day event, which has found sponsors in Yes Bank and Flipkart. "Celebrating literature by bringing together global voices and India's established and new writers along with literary heavyweights of regional languages is something that has not been experimented under one roof.

A strong school programme, wherein participating authors visit schools and colleges to educate the youth on reading habits, influence of the printed word in growing years, and showcasing not just literary but also the region's cultural face in a single event makes it very special and original. For the first time in any literary festival across Asia, one publisher, who is supporting us, has come forward to create a literary corner where aspiring writers can walk in with their manuscripts and ideas and discuss their work with editors. If lucky, they may even be able to secure a publishing contract on-the-spot," informs Kumar.

According to him, this opportunity will translate into making the beer-and-beach state a centre for promoting writing, reading and other forms of art. "It is a known fact that many established authors have made Goa their second home to use the ambience and scenic splendour to carry forward their creative pursuits. This is a testament of Goa's creative vibes."

All praise for the Goa government, which is on board with the idea of the festival, he said: "The vision of the government to actively promote art, literary and allied activities has helped a lot, as have the business tycoons in the region who have been promoting art and culture. Institutions like the Kala Academy, Sunaparanta, Institute Menezes Braganza and others are great locations and bodies, which have been relentlessly promoting art, culture and literature, are also part of the festival," and added, "We hope this will encourage active participation from bibliophiles and writers from all languages and groups; industry leaders coming forward in support of the festival, and thirdly, educational institutions and government's support in making this festival Goa's own international event that will kick off the cultural calendar this October." The Rs85 lakh extravaganza will see a large part of the costs going toward air travel and hospitality, given the many international and national authors attending the festival.

While brushing off suggestions of this literature festival being fashioned on others at famous Indian tourist destinations, he said: "The more the number of people such events reach out to, the greater the penetration. So, great programming coupled with attendance from good crowds is the measure of success. And we are confident that IWRF can pull this off independently without needing comparison."

Key literary personalities sharing their vision would include Thomas Keneally, Louis de Berniers, Damodar Mauzo, Miguel Syjico, Mridula Koshy and dos Santos, Sudeep Sen, CP Surendran, Mamta Sagar, Meena Kandaswamy, Vishnu Wagh, Steve McCarty, Kulpreet Yadav, Aroon Raman, Kutty Revathi, Tishani Doshi, Manohar Shetty, Sandesh Prabudesai, Kishwar Desai, Sidharth Bhatia, Sam Miller, Manu Joseph, Alexandre Barbossa, Liam Fitzpatrick and many more.