Original Article – Southasia Review of Books
The season of literary festivals for 2024 is almost upon us, bringing plenty of opportunities to hear from authors at events across Southasia.
The 7th edition of the Kerala Literature Festival is to be held in Kozhikode from 11 to 14 January 2024. The lineup of over 500 speakers includes the novelist and short story writer in Malayalam, Benyamin, and the historian and curator-translator of Feeling Kerala: An Anthology of Contemporary Malayalam Stories, Jayakumari Devika.
Over in Sri Lanka, after taking a pause during the pandemic, the Galle Literary Festival is back from 25 to 28 January 2024. Inviting readers and thinkers from around the world, the festival’s 11th edition will host an international cast of acclaimed authors and speakers, including the Booker Prize-winning author, Shehan Karunatilake, and the Indian poet and writer, Janice Pariat.
The first-ever Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival, curated by the best-selling Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey, is set to take place from 8 to 12 February 2024 in Kandy and Colombo. The programme includes conversations with the Sri Lankan author Shyam Selvadurai about his latest book Mansions of the Moon, and the authors Ronya Othman, Amanthi Harris and V V Ganeshananthan discuss what it means to leave home, and how this shapes their literature.
The 11th Nepal Literature Festival is also returning to Pokhara from 16-19 February 2024. Watch this space for more updates.