Looking back at the 2018 Galle Literary Festival

Looking back at the 2018 Galle Literary Festival

Why couldn’t the organisers of Galle Lit Fest tap into the vibrant civil society of academics, writers, and journalists in Sri Lanka?

Chhetria Patrakar is Himal's roving media critic.

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The recent edition of the Galle Literary Festival made  Chhetria Patrakar mull over a number of things, including such grave matters as the state of decolonisation in Southasia – something one tends to avoid amidst the glamour of most litfests. If the form and content of cultural events are any markers of that state, what could one say about the Galle litfest, its organisers, and its audience?

The ninth Galle litfest appeared designed for a globally mobile Anglophone audience. Nothing inherently wrong in that, of course, except that such a demographic tends to be more invested in what's happening in the other side of the world, as opposed to in the other side of the town, country, or region. But catering to such globalised interest doesn't naturally produce a global discourse. Often what is of interest to London or Washington DC or even Delhi can be as parochial, if not more so, than that of Jaffna or Janakpur.

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