This is the second time God’s Own Country is hosting this prestigious literary Fest

Reading, writing and publishing are in a frenzied pace these days and spaces to acknowledge the writer and his writing are multitude, like literary festivals and book fairs which are podiums felicitating both established and upcoming writers. One such festival at a small border town in Wales caught the imagination of the world twenty four years ago. Hay-on-Wye, known world-over for its secondhand and antiquarian bookshops, has a population of just 1500 but has approximately thirty major bookshops. And every year for ten days in May, about 85,000 people come in from around the world to join a celebration of stories. Writers, musicians, film-makers, scientists among others cross genre and culture barriers to share ideas and it’s a prestige to be invited to the Hay podiums.

In 2010, the festival decided to travel to world destinations and India, Maldives and Mexico were among the chosen hot spots. In 2010 November, Kerala welcomed Hay Festival and some great names honoured the three-day festivities on home-turf. Simon Schama the British historian, Marcus du Sautoy the Mathematician who has made Public Understanding of Science his career, Hannah Rothschild the writer-director-author, Jorge Volpi, the Mexican author, William Dalrymple, Vikram Seth and Sebastian Faulks and K.Satchidanandan, poet, were among other well-known international names at Hay Festival Kerala 2010.

This year, the number of world destination of the Hay Festival has gone up to ten and Kerala will see the second edition of Hay Festival Kerala on a three-day fête starting November 17. True to the mood set by the Nobel Prize, honouring a poet, it’s to be a celebration of poetry in Hay Festival Kerala too. Poetry from world languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Spanish, Hindi, Welsh, Icelandic and of course English will converge on the podiums of the Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds in Thiruvananthapuram. Our own scholar poet K.Satchidanandan, a Nobel-nominee this year, will join forces with poets of the stature of Aravind Krishna Mehrotra, both of whom need no introduction.

Other guests include Chinese born British writer Jung Chang, the biographer of Chairman Mao. Her family biography titled Wild Swans sold more than 10 million copies world wide, but is still banned in the People’s Republic of China.  Simon Armitage, British poet, playwright, and novelist and known for his huge body of literary works across various genres is a much-awaited invitee. BBC World anchor Nik Gowing will chair a discussion on energy production. Andrew Ruhemann, the film maker on Oscar rolls and Agnes Desarthe, the French novelist are other names on the brochure among Indian names like Anita Nair, novelist, Arundhati Subramaniam and Shashi Tharoor.

The star attraction in Kerala however could be Germaine Greer, the Australian academic, writer, journalist and scholar of English Literature and best known for her feminist voice. She will speak about Shakespeare’s lovers at the Fest. And its not just discussions, the evenings are musical and the cool climate of green Kerala promises to make the Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds spin magic.

by Suneetha Balakrishnan