Photo Credits: CHRISTINE
PANAJI: Book lovers rejoice! The sixth edition of the Goa Arts and Literary Festival is all set to kick off this (Thursday) evening at the Maquinez Palace, Panaji. And the four-day festival promises to be a wonderful melange of interactions with authors from all over the world, discussions, poetry readings, exclusive book launches and various other performances.
“ The festival has gained momentum over the years with so many writers attending it. The Goa presence has also increased this year,” says Damodar Mauzo, Goa Writers Group. Indeed, the speaker line up will include many personalities from the Goan diaspora like Norwegian Goan historian, author and literary critic Ivo de Figureido and Angela Barreto Xavier, historian at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon . Apart from this quite a few Goan authors will also be a part of the festival. “The festival gives Goans an opportunity to interact with their counterparts from other parts of India and other parts of the world,” says Mauzo. Due to recent Chennai flooding and visa problems, some speakers that were announced to be part of the event, will not be able to make it, adds Mauzo, but in all about 100 delegates are expected to attend. “We will also be conducting a few sessions at Goa University where some of the speakers will interact with the students there,” says Yatin Kakodkar, President, International Centre Goa, which will host most of the events. This year, the festival will also have special children's activities daily which will be conducted by Bookworm. “ The festival will also remember literary icons Madhavi Sardesai and Meera Kosambi. There will be three sessions conducted in Madhavi's name which will focus on the challenges that Konkani faces today,” says Vivek Menezes, Goa Writers Group. “ It will also commemorate Charles Correia for his valuable contribution to the festival and we will have the screening of Volume 0, a documentary by Arun Khopkar, which focuses on Charles works, at the inaugural function.”
Renowned photographer and book maker Dayanita Singh and poet and author Keki Daruwalla will deliver the key address at the inaugural function. Arundhati Subramaniam will do a poetry reading. Heta Pandit will also launch her book 'There's more to life than a house in Goa' while Ramachandra Guha, historian and biographer will be in conversation with Naresh Fernandes on the topic 'Ways of Belonging: India 2015'.
Apart from this, the festival will see Indian's well known comedian Radhika Vaz launching her first book 'Unladylike' and she will give a performance, while India's best known rap artist Himanshu Suri will also make his appearance at the festival for the fourth time. Indian street magician Ishamuddin Khan, who is famous for his legendary Indian rope trick , along with his troupe will also be performing at the event. “We will also have a showcasing of the books of the moment which are of national and international significance. This will include Raghu Karnad's Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War, Mahesh Rao's One Point Two Billion and Annie Zaidi's Unbound: 2,000 years of Indian Women’s Writing,” says Menezes. Alongside this, there will also be a parallel display of artworks by noted artists from Goa like Sonia R Sabharwal and Savia Viegas.
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Due to recent Chennai flooding and visa problems, some speakers that were announced to be part of the event, will not be able to make it
