Can this be more engrossing than the elections?

By Juliet Coombe

As the final act is played out on the electoral stage, Galle Fort is putting the last touches in place for a literary feast that in 2007 was dubbed by Harpers Bazaar as the ‘No. 1 Literary Festival in the World’. A five-day, action-packed programme is available to download at www.galleliteraryfestival.com and is sure to inspire the writer in all of us to have a go at, or at the very least understand, what it takes to create legendary characters -- and take a more novel approach to tried and tested formulas.
Since the first Buddhist monks came to the island, Galle has long been a stopover for storytelling merchant traders, pirate vagabonds, the likes of Sinbad the sailor, the Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho and the world’s most famous explorer, Marco Polo. However, it is the words of the great raconteur Leonard Woolf in Growing that best capture this storytelling island and its fascinating inhabitants: “I became almost fanatically interested in the country and the people.”
Galle Fort, Asia’s most spectacular, fully intact 407-year-old fortress is the perfect backdrop for this unique literary festival now in its fourth year. From January 28th to February 1st people will come from all over the world to take part in the five-day literary bonanza. The line-up includes the renowned historian Antony Beevor chronicling the rise of the conspiracy theory to Ian Rankin, one of the 21st century’s greatest crime writers. Rankin will be appearing at the UNESCO award-winning Galle Fort Hotel on Sunday 31st January. This is the perfect setting for such a glamorous literary event; a fully restored 18th century and re-imagined Dutch villa turned boutique hotel, with stunning reflecting pool and colonnaded central courtyards. Enjoy your first cocktail for free and gain an insight into what makes a gripping tale of the unexpected.

The serendipitous isle

If you are keen to ask the question: ‘Who do you think you are?’ book a ticket for the 10 am session at the main talks venue, Hall De Galle, on Friday 29th with Michelle de Kretser, Ru Freeman and the likes of David Blacker, who will discuss the reasons for the stories they have decided to tell about Sri Lanka.
Throughout the five days you will find an exciting line up of playful, poetic, unconventional, challenging, and more recently brutally honest accounts of the country and its people. Ashok Ferry who will debut his first novel Serendipity turns the definition of this word upside down so that events occur by chance in an unhappy way at the Closenburg Hotel between 7 to a pm on Friday 29th. He says: “Be afraid, be very afraid...”
Looking back into Sri Lanka’s ancient history it seems that everyone who came to these idyllic shores always felt a need to pass comment on the serendipitous isle. This can be clearly seen at the Sigiriya Rock Fortress built on a giant rock with stunningly well-preserved rock paintings. On the 5th century graffiti mirror-glazed wall you can read how travellers felt about their first visit to the site. In Sri Lanka as in most other countries, writing and literature has its roots in religion and only started to spread with the introduction of Buddhism from India. Monks religiously recorded important events such as the arrival of the Sri Maha Bodhi and Buddha’s Sacred Tooth Relic, which is currently housed in Kandy’s majestic Temple of the Tooth. In Buddhist temples all around the country you will find fascinating handwritten books in Pali. Each one is hand-bound and written on dried leaves of the palmyra palm tree and if you ask politely are always available to read.

Radically new styles

Paper was unheard of in Sri Lanka until the time of the first Arabic traders who came from Yemen and Morocco. Paper port trading bills have recently been discovered in some of the walls of the older Fort houses, which are currently being restored. However, it was not until after 1815 under British colonial rule that paper was finally popularized and imported on a massive scale from China along with tea, which is now one of Sri Lanka’s most important exports. Once made cheaply available, paper was used not only in the temples, but also in educational establishments around the country. Business practices changed and deals were no longer confirmed just by word alone and a simple shake of the hand.
One of the world’s largest natural disasters of recent years, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, has seen the birth of radically new styles of writing, some very dark and frightening, while others saw this event as a sign of hope for peace in the country bringing all sides and religions together to build a new Sri Lanka. It was out of this hope that Geoffrey Dobbs founded the Galle Literary Festival. He identified the richness of Sri Lankan literature, and realized that such an event would provide a platform for the world’s greatest literary giants to talk, alongside newcomers such as Shehan Karunatilaka, winner of last year’s Gratiaen prize (Sunday 31st January, 10 am at the Hall De Galle: Making Legends), in order to influence a new generation of Sri Lankan writers. Through a myriad of different events from talks to literary lunches and readings, Dobbs wanted to use the Fort’s myriad of spaces as a way to exchange ideas and inspire people to write.
Whether you buy a ticket to the world’s hottest literary festival talks or attend a literary dinner with one of your favourite authors such as Shyam Selvadurai (Saturday 30th Jan, 12.30-2.30 pm), writer of Funny Boy and Swimming in the Monsoon Rain, it will be impossible not to be captivated by the GLF literary line up. For the rebel out there, join Rajpal Abeynayake for his Resident Critic - discussion (Saturday 30th Jan, Maritime Museum, 4 pm) when he will reveal what he dislikes about the Galle Literary Festival! You get to ask the questions this time, so, go along and have your say, but make sure it is critically anarchic.