Noted critic M. Leelavathi has said that “we are living in an age where writers have to show that they have a backbone”.
“It is doubtful whether we will be able to guard freedom with the knowledge that letters give us. Though people like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh could guard freedom granted by knowledge, they lost their lives in the course of their battle,” said Dr. Leelavati in her inaugural address at the third edition of the Krithi International Book Fair and Knowledge Festival at Marine Drive here on Thursday.
‘Search for truth’
Critic M.K. Sanoo, who inaugurated the fest along with Dr. Leelavathi, said the search for truth was an unending journey and it did not end with believing in something as perfect truth. “One should have the humility to distinguish what one does not know while amassing more knowledge,” he said according to a communication issued by the organisers.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said in his presidential address that the contemporary world demands literature of defence for society. “Without the existence of freedom, secularism and democracy, art and literature will not be able to survive,” he said.
150 publishers
The fest is being organised by the State Co-operative Department in association with the Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society (SPCS). Nearly 150 publishers from the country and abroad have displayed their books at the venue.
As in the previous editions, students from across the State will get book coupons worth ₹1.5 crore under the scheme, ‘One book for one child’.
The venue at Marine Drive will also host a photography exhibition, daily film screenings, magic performance and ‘novel photography’ that will depict a novel in a series of photographs. The book fest will conclude on February 16.