Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), founded in 2016, is an annual

literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...

held on the beaches of

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India. The Festival on the beach is a non-aligned platform, committed to providing an open and liberal forums for debates and discussion to foster progressive discourses. The sixth edition of KLF is scheduled for 2023 January 12 -15. Kerala Literature Festival is organized by the

DC Kizhakemuri Foundation DC Kizhakemuri Foundation (DCKF), conceived in 2001 under the Travancore Cochin Legislation of 1957, is formed as a tribute to the late D. C. Kizhakemuri, founder of DC Books. The DC Kizhakemuri Foundation organises a wide range of art, educat ...

, a philanthropic organization founded in 2001 as a tribute to late D.C. Kizhakemuri a freedom fighter, social activist, writer - publisher considered as the doyen of Indian publishing, and known as the father of paperback revolution in India, who took books to the masses. He was instrumental in the abolishment of sales tax on books. Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) is endorsed and supported by the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

, Kerala Tourism and Culture Department. Renowned poet – critic Prof. K. Satchidanandan is the Festival Director along with Publisher Ravi Deecee of

DC Books DC Books is a publisher in Kerala publisher of books in Malayalam, and one of the publishers in India . It also operates one of the largest book store chains in India, with a network of over 45 bookshops under the DC Books and Current Books b ...

is the Chief Facilitator. The editorial team of DC Books works closely with KLF on the content.

History, timeline

2023

The sixth edition of KLF is scheduled from 12- 15 January 2023. The festival is returning to the beaches of Calicut after a two year hiatus due to pandemic and promises to be grand celebration. KLF will host Nobel Laureates, Oscar winners, Booker Prize recipients and other literary luminaries and celebrities from across the world. More than 400 speakers including bestselling writer

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...

, Nobel laureates

Abhijit Banerjee Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (; born 21 February 1961) is an Indian-American economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Banerjee shared the 2019 Nobel Memorial Priz ...

and

Ada Yonath Ada E. Yonath ( he, עדה יונת, ; born 22 June 1939) is an Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular S ...

Piyush Pandey Piyush Pandey is an advertising professional and the Chief Creative Officer Worldwide (2019) and Executive Chairman India of Ogilvy (agency). He is the recipient of the Padma Shri award (2016). Pandey is also credited with shaping a distinct ind ...

Francesc Miralles Francesc Miralles Contijoch (born 27 August 1968) is a Catalan writer, essayist, translator, and musician.. Personal life Miralles, son of a dressmaker and an erudite office clerk, was born on 27 August 1968 in Barcelona, Spain. Having studied f ...

, Geethanjali Shree,

Wendy Doniger Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...

Palanivel Thiagarajan Palanivel Thiagarajan (PTR) is an Indian politician and the current Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election in 2016 and 2021 from Madurai Central. Early life He is the son of the late P ...

Sanjeev Sanyal Sanjeev Sanyal is an Indian economist and popular historian. He is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, and has helped prepare six editions of the Economic Survey of India starting in 2017. Sanyal ha ...

Anand Neelakantan Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, and public speaker. He is known for writing mythological fictions and has authored eleven books in English and one in Malayalam. He follows the style of telling stories based on the ...

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

, Manu S. Pillai,

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

, and

Shobhaa De Shobha De ('' née'' Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction, for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie ...

will be part of KLF 2023.

2021 – e KLF

The virtual festival was a step towards building international relations during the devastating pandemic. The digital edition also witnessed an International Poetry Festival with over 50 poets from more than 10 countries including Palestine, Israel, South Africa, Italy, United States of America, Ireland. The sessions were premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

pages.

2020

The fifth edition was held from 16 to 19 January 2020, at

Kozhikode Beach Kozhikode Beach or Calicut Beach is a beach on the western side of Kozhikode, situated on the Malabar Coast of India. The beach is accessible through four road overbridges in the city. The beach has paved stones and illumination. There is o ...

, with the presence of artists, actors, celebrities, writers, thinkers, and activists, discussing literature, art, cinema, culture, dance, music, environment, science, and technology. Cultural nights include fireside chats by acts and performing artists from around the world. Speakers at the previous editions include

Arundhati Roy Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. S ...

Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

(Video),

Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari ( he, יובל נח הררי ; born 1976) is an Israeli historian and professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the popular science bestsellers '' Sapiens: A Brief History ...

(Video),

Sadhguru Sadhguru (born Jagadish Vasudev, 3 September 1957) is the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India. The foundation, established in 1992, operates an ashram and yoga centre that carries out educational and spiritual ...

Romila Thapar Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...

Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although ...

Rishi Kapoor Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...

, Chetan Bhagath,

Karan Thapar Karan Thapar (born 5 November 1955) is an Indian journalist, news presenter and interviewer working with The Wire. Thapar was associated with CNN-IBN and hosted ''The Devil's Advocate'' and ''The Last Word''. He was also associated with India T ...

Rajdeep Sardesai Rajdeep Sardesai (born 24 May 1965) is an Indian news anchor, reporter, journalist and author. He is a consulting editor and an anchor of India Today Television. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Global Broadcast News, that included CNN-IBN, IBN7 ...

, Sobhaa De and Sagarika Ghose. In addition to literature, topics include environment and climate change. Spain was the guest nation, and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

literature was featured. The festival is open to the public and is non-exclusive and an open platform for discussions and idea exchanges.

2019

The fourth edition of the festival was held from 10–13 January 2019, at

with 500 + renowned authors, discussions, poetry festival, music, dance, movie screenings and photo exhibitions. Wales was chosen as the guest nation. Set in five tracks- ''Ezhuthola'', ''Aksharam'', ''Thulika'' , ''Vaaku'', ''Vellithira''. Kijote Kathakali by Ignacio Garcia, Sufi Rock Outfit Alif featuring Ulrike Almut Sandig, Russian Music & Dance, Concert by L Subramaniam, Steffan Donnely performed a bilingual piece of contemporary theater, Qawwali night by Mystic Sufiana Mehfil were some of the defining moments of KLF 2019.

, Yuval Noah Harrari,

, Satish Aalekar, Keki Daruwala,

Chetan Bhagat Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974) is an Indian author, columnist and YouTuber. He was included in Time (magazine), Time magazine's list of Time 100, World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Five of his novels have been adapted into films ...

Caryl Lewis Caryl Lewis (born 7 July 1978) is a Welsh novelist. She won the Wales Book of the Year in 2005 with her novel ''Martha Jac a Sianco'', which was adapted into a film in 2008. Biography Lewis was brought up in Aberaeron until she was 12. Then she ...

, Ravinder Singh

Jeet Thayil Jeet Thayil (born 1959) is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is the author of several poetry collections, including ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. His first novel, '' Narcopolis,'' ( ...

attended the festival.

2018

The third edition of the festival was held from 8–11 February 2018, at Kozhikode Beach. KLF 2018 was inaugurated by

, MT Vasudevan Nair and Prakash Raj. The event was supported by the Kerala State Government and the Kerala Tourism Department, and by the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation and the district administration. Th
Kochi Muziris Biennale
was an integral part of the festival. Guest nation for the year was Ireland (represented by

Gabriel Rosenstock Gabriel Rosenstock (born 29 September 1949) is an Irish writer who works chiefly in the Irish language. A member of Aosdána, he is poet, playwright, haikuist, tankaist, essayist, and author/translator of over 180 books, mostly in Irish. Born in ...

, Paddy Bushe, Liam Carson,

Alan Titley Alan Titley (born 28 June 1947, ) is an Irish-language novelist, translator, playwright and professor. He also wrote columns under the name Crobhingne. Early life Titley was born in Cork and educated at Coláiste Chríost Rí, St. Patrick's Co ...

, Amanda Bell, and

Conor Kostick Conor Kostick (born 26 June 1964) is an Irish historian and writer living in Dublin. He is the author of many works of history and fiction. Works '' Epic'' was his first novel and was awarded a place on the International Board on Books for Youn ...

Ashis Nandy Ashis Nandy ( bn, আশিস নন্দী; born 13 May 1937) is an Indian political psychologist, social theorist, and critic. A trained clinical psychologist, Nandy has provided theoretical critiques of European colonialism, developme ...

, Sagarika Ghose,

participated.

2017

The second edition of Kerala Literature Festival held from 2–5 February 2017, at Kozhikode Beach. Noted

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

short story writer and novelist

Paul Zacharia Paul Zacharia, popularly known mononymously as Zacharia, is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his body of literary works composed of short stories, novellas, travelogues, screenplays, essays, columns and children's books, Zacha ...

inaugurated KLF 2017. Highlight of KLF 2017 was the interaction between Sadguru jaggi vasudev,

Sashi Kumar Sashi Kumar (born 23 February 1952) is an Indian journalist and media personality from Kerala. He worked in Asianet, the country's first regional satellite television channel. He founded and chairs the Media Development Foundation, the not f ...

and

Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978) is an Indian actress, producer, classical dancer and playback singer who primarily appears in Malayalam language films. She is the recipient of several awards including one National Film Award, one Kera ...

Cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s of O. V. Vijayan were also exhibited in 2017 Kerala Literature Festival. Over 300 writers from across the world took part in KLF 2017.The writers from abroad include South African writer Ari Sitas, and British-Pakistani writer Qaisra Shahraz, Slovene writer

Evald Flisar Evald Flisar (born 13 February 1945) is a Slovene writer, poet, playwright, editor and translator. He was president of the Slovene Writers' Association for three consecutive terms between 1995 and 2002 and is editor-in-chief of the literary and ...

, translator and editor of numerous publications Alexandra Büchler o
Literature Across Frontiers
Portuguese translator Bruno Viera Amaral and poet and literary curator Nia Davies from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, United Kingdom.The sessions held in four venues titled Ezhuthola, Aksharam, Thulika, and Vellithira. The second edition of the festival introduced a programme for students, 'Student KLF', promoting

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

, literature, art and culture. The event included open

discussions Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, ...

with authors on contemporary topics.

2016

first thought of a cultural space for people to interact and come together which was later conceptualized in 2016 as Kerala Literature Festival. At Calicut is a converging place of history, culture and trade.

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

, the great Portuguese

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

touched down the Indian subcontinent on the shores of the city. The Freedom Square, permanent venue of KLF was constructed by former MLA M Pradeep Kumar constructed the square. The architect‘s team, ''De- Earth'' led by P.P Vivek and Vinod Cyriac envisioned and designed the Square. The Freedom Square today ranks among the six world’s must-see museums and was featured in ''Architecture Plus Design''. The festival aims to provide a non aligned platform for cultural exchange and promotes free speech and dialogue. It brings writers, thinkers and activists closer, to people of varied backgrounds and interests and empower writers, thinkers to take the liberty to exercise freedom of thought and expression. The first edition witnessed writers and speakers including

M T Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...

, Anand,

Taslima Nasrin Taslima Nasrin (born 25 August 1962) is a Bangladeshi-Swedish writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writing on women's oppression and criticism of religion. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh ...

, Ashok Vajpeyi, Khadeeja Mumtaz, M.Mukundan, Sarah Joseph, Githa Hariharan,

Meena Kandasamy Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Meena published two collections of poetry, ''Touch'' (2006) and ''Ms. Militancy'' (2010). From 2001-2002, she edi ...

, Pratibha Ray, TD Ramakrishnan, T Padmanabhan, Subhash Chandran,

Leena Manimekalai Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and a dozen films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions ...

and Girish Kasaravalli, to name a few.

Gallery

File:KLF-2016 09315.JPG, Anita Nair and K R Meera at KLF 2016 File:Taslima Nasrin and K. Satchidanandan at KLF-2016 09598.jpg, K. Satchidanandan with Taslima Nasrin at KLF 2016 File:KLF-2016 09558.JPG, Dileep Raj, Civic Chandran, C. S. Chandrika and Rekha Raj at KLF 2016 File:Keralaliteraturefestival 08775.JPG, Gita Hariharan at KLF 2016 File:KLF-2016 09524.JPG, Shahina K Rafiq with Meena Kandasamy at KLF 2016 File:Keralaliteraturefestival 08697.JPG, M T Vasudevan Nair at KLF 2016

References

External links

{{commons category, Kerala Literature Festival
Kerala Literature Festival
Literary festivals in India Culture of Kozhikode 2016 establishments in Kerala Malayalam-language literature