Kerala

Kerala Literature Festival postponed amid rising COVID-19 cases

Written by : IANS

The sixth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF 2022) has been rescheduled to March in view of the surge in COVID-19 surge in the state. It will now be held at the beaches of Kozhikode from March 17 to March 20, 2022. It was earlier scheduled to be held from January 20 to January 23. Organised by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation, KLF is supported by the Kerala government and the Kerala Tourism Board.

"Taking in view the surge in a number of infections of Omicron variant, we have rescheduled the festival. It has been done keeping in mind the interest of our speakers, participants, audiences, the general public, and our patrons. The current discourse is that the numbers may peak between the latter part of January and fall by mid of February. We are hoping that the pandemic will recede in time. We are determined to host an in-person festival with the active support of our patrons, speakers, and partners," Ravi Deecee, who is the chief facilitator of Kerala Literature Festival, said.

The sixth edition of KLF is a coming together of the community after a year of virtual existence, hence the theme — 'Come Together'. Set along with the shores of the Arabian Sea, the 4-day festival brings artists, actors, celebrities, writers, thinkers, and activists closer to people of different backgrounds and interests. With an aggregate footfall of more than 3 lakh people, KLF is the second largest festival of its kind in Asia, combining the best of literary and popular cultures.

Jeffrey Archer, Ada Yonath, Abhijit Banerjee, Arundhati Roy, Remo Fernandes, Sagarika Ghose, Wendy Doniger, Shashi Tharoor, Manu S Pillai, Devdutt Pattanaik, Chris Kraus, Sudhir Kakar, Pawan Varma, Perumal Murugan, Prakash Raj, William Dalrymple, Paula Richman, Anita Nair, M Mukundan, Benyamin, TM Krishna, KR Meera, Sunil Ilayidom, Paul Zacharia among others are the prominent speakers at the event.

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