Goa Arts and Literature Festival is back for the 12th edition
The 12th edition of the Goa arts and literature festival (GALF) will be held at the International Centre Goa (ICG) from February 15 to17. GALF 2024 will be inaugurated at International Centre Goa, Dona Paula at 5.30 pm on February 15, with the unveiling of the official festival artwork by Sagar Naik Mule, the exclusive book launch of Damodar Mauzo’s latest novel, ‘Boy, Unloved’, in translation by Jerry Pinto and poetry reading by Robin Ngangom.
The impressive line-up of writers and poets includes the eminent Toronto-based food writer Naomi Duguid, pioneering Franco-Indian novelist Ari Gautier, the highly regarded debutants Devika Rege, Sohini Chattopadhyay, Yogesh Maitreya, Manish Gaekwad and Abhishek Choudhary, brilliant poetry from Meena Kandasamy, Mustansir Dalvi and Ranjit Hoskote, and an extraordinary lineup of national literary treasures including I Allan Sealy, Mamang Dai, KR Meera, Robin Ngangom, Vivek Shanbhag and Mini Krishnan.
The final event on February 17, at 6pm, Stuti Choir led by Parvesh Java will perform John Tavener’s renowned ’Tribute to Cavafy’. All events are free and open to the public.
Abhishek Choudhary is a Delhi-based writer and researcher. His debut, ’Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977’ (Picador), won the Best First Book Award at Tata Literature Live! 2023. The second volume will come out in the summer of 2024.
Akshaya Mukul is a writer and a journalist. He is the author of Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India and Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya. Mukul was a political journalist for over two decades and worked in the Hindustan Times, Pioneer and the Asian Age.
Ari Gautier is the author of ‘Carnet Secret de Lakshmi’ and ‘Le thinnai’, as well as a collection of short stories, ‘Nocturne Pondichéry’. His books, short stories and poems translated into English, Italian, German, Norwegian and Tamil are studied in different universities around the world.
Devika Rege is the author of the award-winning debut novel ’Quarterlife,’ published by HarperCollins India in 2023 and to be released internationally in 2024.
I Allan Sealy is the author most recently of a chapbook, ’Flying Yoginis’. His mock epic, ’The Trotter-nama’ is regarded as one of the classics of modern Indian writing and was reissued by Penguin in a 30th anniversary edition. A more recent journey produced the pen-and-ink drawings of the ’China Sketchbook’.
Jerry Pinto is a poet, novelist and translator and the winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University and the Sahitya Akademi Award. His published works include the novels, ‘Em and the Big Hoom’, ‘The Education of Yuri’, ‘Murder in Mahim’; the poetry collections, ‘Asylum and Other Poems’ and ‘I Want a Poem and Other Poems’. He has just translated Damodar Mauzo’s latest novel into English, with the title ‘Boy, Unloved’.
K R Meera has published four novels, six novellas, six collections of short fiction, two children’s novels, and two collections of essays. She has garnered all major Malayalam literary awards. Her latest novel Assassin (translated by J Devika) won the Gaurang River Prize and Jezebel (translated by Abhirami Girija Shriram & K S Bijukumar) won the South Asia Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2023.
Mamang Dai is a poet and novelist from Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. A former journalist and Padma Shri awardee, Dai is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2017, for her novel ‘The Black Hill’, in English. Her latest publication is ‘The White Shirts of Summer’.
Manish Gaekwad is an author who has previously worked as a reporter for Mid-day, Scroll and freelanced for The Hindu. ‘The Last Courtesan’, a memoir of his mother, is his second book published by HarperCollins India. He has written a Netflix series ‘She’ with filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, was the script consultant for the film ‘Badhaai Do’ and has also worked as an in-house script creative at Red Chillies Entertainment.
Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, cultural theorist, translator, and independent curator. His collections of poetry include ‘Central Time’, ‘Jonahwhale’, ‘Hunchprose’, and ‘Icelight’. He co-curated the 7th Gwangju Biennale and was the curator, in 2011, of India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Vivek Shanbhag is a Kannada author, editor and playwright. He founded the pioneering literary journal ’Desha Kaala’, editing it for seven years. His critically-acclaimed novel ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ has been translated into 19 languages worldwide. His recent novel, ‘Sakina’s Kiss’ is published in English translation.
Yogesh Maitreya is the founder of and editor at Panther’s Paw Publication. He is the author of ’Flowers on the Grave of Caste’, a collection of short stories, ’Singing/Thinking Anti Caste’, a book of essays on music and memories, and ’Ambedkar 2021’, a book of prose poetry. His latest publication includes ’Water in a Broken Pot’, a memoir and ’Thoughts on Self as Caste and Deception’.
