Writers, journalists, activists, thinkers – the list of speakers for the second-largest festival of its kind in Asia, the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) 2023, includes a diverse set of people from different backgrounds under one roof aim to map literature through discussions on varied subjects.
The speakers include Malayalam novelist and short story writer Benyamin; Malayalam author and journalist KR Meera; economist Abhijit Banerjee; Sri Lankan writer and winner of 2022 Booker Prize Shehan Karunatilaka; and acclaimed Hindi author and winner of 2022 International Booker Prize Geetanjali Shree.
Then there is popular author Wendy Doniger; writer and co-author of Ikigai Francesc Miralles; advertising guru and chief creative officer worldwide and executive chairman Piyush Pandey; and oral historian, writer, and co-founder of the Museum of Material Memory Aanchal Malhotra.
Also on the list are Economic Advisory Council member Sanjeev Sanyal; business thought-leader and philanthropist S ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan; Tamil Nadu finance and human resources management minister Palanivel Thiagarajan; author and activist Arundhati Roy; actor, director, television presenter Prakash Raj; author and editor at the Museum of Art and Photography Anirudh Kanisetti; author and translator Jerry Pinto; award-winning historian Manu S Pillai; psychoanalyst and novelist Sudhir Kakar; writer, art historian, curator and co-founder of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) William Dalrymple; Malayalam author M T Vasudevan Nair; and Malayalam fiction writer M Mukundan, among others.
The sixth edition of the festival will take place on the beaches of Calicut (also known as Kozhikode) from 12 to 15 January 2023. Organized by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation, the event is supported by the Government of Kerala and the Kerala Tourism Board. KLF is said to be the largest-growing literature festival in Asia.
The Litfest brings together writers, journalists, activists, and thinkers and empowers them to exercise the freedom of thought and expression. The edition brings together more than 400 speakers from more than 12 countries and 200+ sessions across five venues in four days. Kannada is the language in focus.
The previous editions of the festival have hosted Nobel laureates, Booker Prize winners, Oscar recipients, among other literary greats. The festival is coming back after a two-year-long hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Kozhikode is a bustling town off Kerala’s Malabar coast, standing tall in the glory of the Zamorins, the Portuguese, and its exquisite spices. Vasco de Gama was said to be the first to touch down on this shore in 1498.
