Trivandrum: Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, Booker Prize winners, Jnanpith awardees and scores of eminent authors from around the world will enrich the fourth edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2023), one of India’s biggest literary festivals, which will get underway here on February 02.
Setting the stage for literary icons, along with stalwarts of arts, media and films, to share their perspectives on key contemporary topics, the four-day event, also known as ‘Ka’ in Malayalam, will feature more than 400 speakers from the global literary world who include Man Booker International Prize winners Shehan Karunatilaka and Jokha AlHarthi.
The theme of the fourth edition of the event is “Shadows of History, Lights of the Future.” The fest is packed with engrossing and enriching sessions of solos, dialogues, discussions and readings of poetry and prose.
This year’s event, planned on a grander scale, will witness a confluence of authors, editors, publishers, actors, writers, poets, filmmakers, musicians, media persons and all those involved in the amazing world of letters, Mayura Shreyams Kumar, Festival Director, said.
Jnanpith awardees Damodar Mauzo, MT Vasudevan Nair and Amitav Ghosh, are among the prominent figures at the fest. Other key speakers at the event include Colum McCann, John Keay, Sjon, Futhi Ntshingila, Niall Griffiths, Raquel Santanera, Archil Kikodze, Alexandra Buchler, Megan Angharad Hunter, Carlos Fonseca Suarez, Beatriz Chivite Ezkieta, Rasa Bugavicute-Pece, Alvin Pang, Avrina Prabala-Joslin, Vamba Sherif, Paulina Stochniaek, Krzysztof Hoffmann, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Jacob Dalborg and Christian Kamill.
Also representing the Indian literary arena will be Sudha Murty, Anindita Ghose, Anita Nair, Shobhaa De, Jeet Thayil and Anand Neelakantan among others. Malayalam literary doyens such as T Padmanabhan, K Satchidanandan, K G Sankara Pillai, Sarah Joseph, N S Madhavan, and Paul Zacharia will also grace the event.
The list also includes Bennyamin, K Rekha, Alankode Leelakrishnan, Asha Menon, Kalpetta Narayanan, G R Indugopan, CV Balakrishnan, Prabha Varma, Rose Mary, PK Rajasekharan, Sunil P Ilayidom, Santhosh Echikkanam and E Santhosh Kumar.
As a prelude to ‘MBIFL 2023’, a lecture series, titled ‘100 Land, 100 Speeches,’ on different topics by illustrious writers and personalities from various fields are being organised across the state. Well-known journalists and authors, Sabin Iqbal and MP Surendran are the curators.