Largest festival in a village, Wayanad Literature Festival on schedule in Dec

Parts of Wayanad witnessed landslides of a huge proportion and unimaginable devastation just three months ago, and hosting a literary festival so soon appeared inappropriate, but the people of the village and others wanted the festival to go ahead, recalls Vinod Jose, director of the Wayanad Literature Festival, a biennale with its first edition held in 2022.

“A literature festival in a village is meaningful in very many ways, and more so when people are still struggling to come out of a tragedy and the district is slowly picking itself up,” Jose says. “The overwhelming response was to use the platform to discuss topics like climate change, ecology and livelihood rights alongside literature and culture.”

This edition will feature various activities not held in the first edition. Activities such as international academic conference, an arts and crafts fair, a farmers' market, a film festival, a book fair and a food festival have been included to make all who attend the festival feel equally at home.

“The WLF is for everyone. If engaging with an author is not of interest, come watch a movie, or attend a masterclass by an entrepreneur, or taste a new dish at the food festival, or play a game of chess at the chess tournament, or buy some artwork and support someone's creativity. Literature lies at the centre of the festival, but the activities around it will complement each other,” is what the organisers are hoping for. 

Over 200 writers, cultural icons, filmmakers, artists and academicians from around the globe are expected to take part in the festival. Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, former Supreme Court Justice J. Chelameshwar, constitutional expert and senior advocate Shyam Dewan, filmmaker Sanjay Kak and writers Sara Joseph, N.S. Madhavan, K. Satchidanandan, M. Mukundan, C.V. Balakrishnan and Zakaria will be among the prominent speakers expected to be present, the organisers said.

British historian and journalist John Keay, political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, Harvard School of Public Health epidemiology professor Caroline Buckee and Amitava Kumar, Helen D. Lockwood Chair of English Literature, Vassar College, New York, will be among the international speakers.

The second edition of the three-day literature festival, to be held in Wayanad from 27-29 December, has evinced a lot of interest already if the list of speakers who have agreed to be present is an indication.

“Of course, we have logistical challenges, but the merit of the festival and the space it creates for the mixing of ides, energy, craft, excitement and everything that is beautiful in village life, makes it second to no other, particularly no city festival,” Jose said.