The Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), scheduled from 12 -15 January 2023, is the grandest celebration of words, ideas, and the coming together of a global community. The sessions are on topics of varied interests – history, architecture, science, economics, food and popular culture, travel, dance, and cinema – that run parallel in five tracks.
With a footfall of more than 300,000 people, KLF is one of the largest cultural gatherings in the country. The event is open to the public, non-exclusive, and non-aligned to offer a democratic and open platform for discussions and idea exchanges.
KLF is organized by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation with the support of the Kerala Culture and Tourism departments. The foundation was keen to have a cultural space for people to interact and come together, and thus the Kerala Literature Festival was conceptualized in 2016. The festival was received warmly by the people of Kerala and around the country. Subsequent editions became larger with brilliant speakers and global cultural personalities taking part.
The sixth edition scheduled from 12 -15 January 2023 promises to be a huge affair withNobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee, Ada Yonath, 2022 Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka, International Booker Prize winner Geethanjali Shree; Wendy Doniger, Yoko Ogawa, Jeffery Archer, Yuval Noah Harari, Sagarika Ghose, Tushar Gandhi, Lord Meghnath Desai, advertising guru Piyush Pandey, rockstar Remo Fernandes, industrialists and entrepreneurs such as Govind Dholakia, Kris Gopalakrishnan and the Queen of Pop Usha Uthup.
This edition will also feature the Children’s KLF that runs in parallel to the lit fest. Activities include workshops with national and international mentors. Apart from this, there will be music events and mega film screenings every night on the beaches.
KLF is a free event but registrations are mandatory.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
