Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF)

The Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF), first held in 2010,[1] is a festival for literature and art organised each year in December in the coastal state of Goa, India. Its venue is the International Centre, Goa (IGC).

Participants

Its participants include writers and artists of Goa, from the North-East and Kashmir, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and has included themes like Dalit writing, poetry, graphic novels, and translations.[1]

Among its participants[1] were U. R. Ananthamurthy (2010), Gulzar and Amitav Ghosh (2011), Mridula Garg and Eunice de Souza (2012), Meera Kosambi, Mitra Phukan and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (2013), Edwin Thumboo and Wendell Rodricks (2014). Teju Cole, Pakistani novelist Bilal Tanweer, Samanth Subramaniam, French graphic novelist Nicolas Wild, the Bhand Pather theatre troupe directed by M K Raina, Uttar Kamalabari Satra led by Sri Sri Janardhan Deva Goswami, Ranjit Hoskote, Naresh Fernandes, the graphic novelist Amruta Patil, Aditya Adhikari, Mamang Dai,Indian-American rappers Chee Malabar and Himanshu Suri, Pakistani satirical musician Ali Aftab Saeed, American artist Daisy Rockwell, writers and artists from Australia, Nepal and Singapore, and some locals, including school and college students.

GALF 2014 saw senior journalists discuss "the changing nature of the national media". These included Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Sreenivasan Jain, Naresh Fernandes, Samar Halarnkar, Priya Ramani, Govindraj Ethiraj, Sachin Kalbag, Prashant Jha, Cyril Almeida. Then Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar released Sardesai's 2014: The Election that Changed India.[1]

GALF also claims to have "consistently hosted some of the best lineups of contemporary poets ever assembled in contemporary India".[1] In 2013, there was an "unprecedented reunion of the great 'Bombay School' of poets who emerged in the 1970's, including Eunice de Souza, Gieve Patel, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Manohar Shetty."[1]

Response

The online StageCulture.com said of GALF: "Hosted annually in December, this Fest has proven beyond doubt, that Goa is much more than just a hip beach destination and rave hotspot."[2]

Skyscanner.co.in said: "The Goa Arts and Literary festival ... is now in its fifth year, and is quickly establishing itself as one of the literary events of the year. In between attending literary events, readings and book launches, you’ll be able to visit the popular beaches of [G]oa for some sun, sand and seafood! ...Participation is free, with pre-registration."[3]

Writing in The Navhind Times, one critical point of view commented: "Goa needs to create rooms of its own to spur on the creative process. But, now, just when writers from here have an enhanced chance of getting heard, we could be building new hierarchies. Local work needs to be validated by the tastes of someone in New Delhi or New York, before it can be deemed as significant and having value for Goa. This is a deeply disturbing idea, even if it is implemented subconsciously. There seems to be little consultation happening to source out potential participants. In the case of national and international participants, one can go by what is said about them, or reputations built in other literary festivals. How does one choose participation from Goa when we are still to understand the field of who’s doing what?"[4]

2017

The 2017 festival is scheduled for 7–10 December, Thursday–Sunday.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About Us". goaartlitfest.com. International Centre (Goa). Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  2. ↑ Mishra, Gauri. "7 Literary Festivals of India – Art & Culture Jamboree". blog.stageculture.com. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Literary Festivals in INdia". skyscanner.co.in. Skyscanner. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Noronha, Frederick. "A room of our own?". navhindtimes.in. The Navhind Times. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.