Kozhikode: Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2020) will witness the presence and participation of an array of eminent writers from various literary genre, culture and space. Distinguished personalities from different walks of life will also add meaning to the event. The literary festival scheduled to be for 4 days at Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram will be held from January 30 to February 2, 2020.
Sunil Gupta, the retired law officer of Tihar Jail will share his personal experiences with death penalty culprits and their state of mind when facing the verdict. The discussion will be at the backdrop of his book “Black Warrant” which deals with the topic. The co-author of the book Sunetra Choudhury will share the stage. At a time when the country is waiting for the death penalty of the Nirbhaya case culprits, the session which is scheduled to be on 2 February has great relevance and prominence.
Renowned Mumbai – based writer and journalist Dilip d’ Souza will speak of his experiences on Sachin Tendulkar being the next door neighbour.
In the session on “the expedition of creativity”, prominent writers Benyamin, T. D Ramakrishnan and K.V Mohan Kumar will speak with writer Vinu Abraham.
‘The influenced and changing food culture of Kerala’, is the topic of discussion at the session moderated by Ram Mohan Paliath. Screenwriter John Paul, writers Anita Nair and G Ushakumari will speak at the session.
Discussions on the factions within the Congress party, “Kanjiyundo Alpam Uppedukkan”, is led by R. Sreekandan Nair. Veteran political leaders, MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MP K Sudhakaran, and MLA V T Balram, will participate in the discussion.
In the session named “The Other Side”, Mexican writer Juan Pablo Villalobos will speak about his personal experiences with the Ukranian born Russian writer Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov.
The North East literary community in India is detached from the main stream literary community for various reasons. The session on this topic is addressed by Assamese writer Jahnavi Barua, Assam born poet Janice Pariat and Journalist Madhu Gurung. Parvathy Salil will be the moderator of the session.
MBIFL is incomplete without speaking about the father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Renowned speaker and writer Sunil P Ilayidam will speak on “Gandhism – Gandhi: Religion and Politics “.
Entry to MBIFL
- General pass: Rs 250 for one day, Rs 800 for all four days
- Student pass: Rs 150 for one day, Rs 500 for all four days
The delegate pass for participating in MBIFL will be available at all Mathrubhumi unit offices and book stalls. Passes are also available at festival office in Thiruvananthapuram, BookMyShow website or MBIFL official website mbifl.com.