A galaxy of luminaries from the fields of literature, arts, and culture marked their presence as the four-day Kerala Literature Festival began on the Kozhikode beach here on Thursday.
M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Jnanpith winning-writer, lit a lamp to mark the beginning of the literary fete. K. Satchidanandan, festival director, who presided over the event, said that this literary festival was different from similar ventures elsewhere because of its popular character. “The people of Kozhikode have taken it up as their own. The programmes being held and the topics being discussed are decided at different levels, in different towns and after eliciting the views of people from different walks of life,” he said. Also, though people from different countries who speak different languages are coming down here, the focus is on Malayalam language and its literature. “The regional language is not given similar recognition at other literary festivals,” he said. At a time when space for meaningful debates were shrinking, the festival would give a platform for fearless expression of ideas, Mr. Satchidanandan added.