A LitFest in Kozhikode
The sunny beaches of Kozhikode, formerly Calicut, came alive from January 23-26, 2025 with the eighth edition of Kerala Literature Festival bringing together over 500 speakers from 15 countries and over 600,000 visitors celebrating literature, art, and culture in the town recently designated by UNESCO as the “City of Literature.”
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The who’s who of the literary universe rubbed shoulders at Asia’s largest literary festival with celebrities, scholars, artists, performers diplomats, Booker Prize winners, and Nobel laureates. Visitors thronged to venues for book launches, poetry readings, and workshops.
Vibrant literary sessions and stimulating discussions were punctuated by a series of
mesmerizing musical, dance, and theater performances. Legends such as the recent Padma Vibhushan awardee violin maestro L. Subramaniam, flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, and classical vocalist Ustad Waseem Ahmed Khan held music lovers in thrall. Theatre enthusiasts witnessed thought-provoking plays while dance performances lit up the stage creating a mesmerizing atmosphere.
Rhythms of Fusion, held on day two of the event, brought together Attam Kala Samithi, a renowned Chenda Percussion Music Band from Kerala, and a popular Chennai-based musician and founder of Musik Lounge, Stephen Devassy, who produced a fusion of Carnatic beats with contemporary influences.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the online festival and commended KLF’s evolution as one of India’s most popular literature festivals. “It has also become an inspiration for several other literature festivals in Kerala,” he said. Supported by the Government of Kerala, Kerala Tourism, and the Department of Culture, the festival’s content was curated and produced by the editorial team of renowned writer and festival director Prof. K Satchidandan, DC Books and the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation.
An exciting congregation of literary minds
This year, the addition of a dedicated Children’s KLF, with storytelling sessions, workshops and interactive events laid the groundwork for a lifelong love for literature among young ones.
Celebrated writers and thinkers from across the globe participated in over 300 sessions on literature, politics, art, science, and film, as well as cutting-edge scientific advancements and explorations of ancient philosophy. They included flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, filmmaker Mani Ratnam, the ‘God of Indian Violin’ L. Subramaniam, and Bollywood veterans Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, and Prakash Raj.
The impressive speaker line-up also featured Booker Prize winners, Nobel laureates, award-winning authors, directors, historians, and personalities like Parvathy Thiruvoth, Mir Mukhtyar Ali, Priya Puroshottam, Vidya Shah, Methil Devika, Fred Nevché, Dr. Radhika Joshi, Rajashree Warrier, Indulekha Warrier, Mónica de la Fuente, and GQ India’s Editor Che Kurrien. Sessions featuring noted writers from Malayalam and other languages sparked enormous interest.
Audiences were treated to engaging discussions and debates, especially the one with renowned British archaeologist Robin Coningham, who focused on Harappa: 100 years later.
The Beginnings of KLF
With its dynamic programming and curation, as well as a desire to promote literature and the arts, KLF has earned international acclaim as a premier cultural platform. It began on a modest scale in 2016, and has evolved into Asia’s largest literature festival, said Ravi Deecee, Chief Facilitator of the Kerala Literature Festival. “Each year, we witness not only a growing number of participants but also an increasing global presence, with more countries joining us and sharing their unique literary voices.
The international reach of KLF reflects the festival’s commitment to fostering cross–cultural exchanges and showcasing the diversity of thought and creativity from around the world. The enthusiasm of our attendees has continued to exceed expectations, making KLF a truly global celebration of literature and culture,” noted Deecee.
Festival director Satchidanandan added, “Not only does the event allow readers to
listen to their favorite authors but also interact with them. And, if the first edition was mostly attended by people from Kerala, now its audiences include not only those from the subcontinent but from across the globe transcending cultures and nationalities.”
An Inclusive Ambiance
The inclusive and eclectic nature of the event appealed most to the delegates. “KLF is more than just a literary festival; it is a unique celebration of a myriad art forms,” said violinist L. Subramaniam. “It offers a grand stage for cultural performances encompassing traditional and contemporary arts. Kerala’s rich musical heritage has been effectively showcased through captivating performances ranging from classical to folk music. This unique combination of scholarly discussion and performing arts celebrating the written word makes KLF an immersive cultural experience like no other.”
According to author Vishal Vasanthkumar, a PhD scholar at Cambridge University, literature festivals hold even more importance in an era of social media domination and shortening attention spans. “They allow one to engage with the author not just with the work but beyond the work too. We need more detailed engagement with people’s work and not superficial byte-based engagement and I think literature festivals provide a great platform for that. His book “The Smart and The Dumb” views education through the prism of caste, class, and gender. ” Such events are festivals of free thought and expression, allowing for views to be challenged and seriously engaged with,” he said.
Noted actor Naseeruddin Shah added that KLF acts as a “point of convergence”, bringing the best of the literary world together. “It’s lovely to see so many people now attending a literature festival. I’m also delighted to see theatre as an integral component of KLF as for me theater has been the biggest teacher. Whatever I’ve learned from life has been thanks to theater,” he said soon after a session that featured him with actor Parvathy Thiruvothu.
France as a KLF Partner
This year KLF 2025 celebrated France as this year’s ‘Guest Nation.’ Over 15 authors and 8 publishers from France participated in the event across various sub-categories like fiction and non-fiction such as Humanities, Young Adult, and Children’s Literature, among others. Sessions featured Nobel laureate Esther Duflo, Philippe Claudel, Julie Stephen Chheng, Timothée de Fombelle, and Cheyenne Olivier.
Notable French participants included writer-director Philippe Claudel, historian Pierre Singaravélou, writer Johanna Gustawsson, graphic novelist Zeina Abirached, authors Julie Stephen Chheng and Timothée de Fombelle, and musical artist Fred Nevché.
Kozhikode As a Backdrop
Kozhikode’s mélange of rich influences and centuries-old connections to the outside
world make it the perfect host of KLF. It’s also where Vasco da Gama landed in 1494. The coastal town, dubbed as the ‘City of Spices’ a prominent trade hub
with the Middle East was Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s touch-down
point on the Indian subcontinent in 1498. Records document lucrative
commerce with Arab merchants dating back to the 7th century.
Today it’s home to more than 70 publishing houses, 545 libraries, and authors like
Vaikkom Mohammed Basheer, SK Pottakkaatt, MT Vasudevan Nair, Thikkodiyan, NP Mohammed and Balamani Amma; the written word is encoded in the city’s DNA.
Kozhikode also boasts of India’s first literary gender initiative in a Gender Library housed within a Gender Park showcasing an extensive collection of books and publications on gender rights, feminist literature, transgender experiences, and other studies on gender. At the Abussabah Library, the central library of Farook College, over 150 volumes are in Braille alone, besides an impressive selection of audio-visual aids to consume literature.