THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL 2008
January 2008 – When all roads led to Galle
Yasmine Gooneratne
“There is no island in the world, Great Britain itself not excepted, that has attracted the attention of authors in so many distant ages and so many different countries as Ceylon. There is no nation in ancient or modern times possessed of a language and a literature, the writers of which have not at some time made it their theme.”
Sir James Emerson Tennent, Ceylon (1859)
“If life is a festival, Sri Lanka is next door to Nirvana.”
Brian Keenan in Galle, January 2008
Galle, the port city built in south Sri Lanka by Dutch invaders in the seventeenth century, provided the venue in January this year for the second international Galle Literary Festival. This event, dubbed the “No. 1 Literary Festival in the world” by Harpers Bazaar after its inception last year, elicited world-wide interest of a nature that was a welcome change from the images associated with violence and ethnic warfare that have dominated headlines for the last twenty five years. A nation that formerly exported English teachers to schools and universities all over the world had suffered deep cultural wounds inflicted by a brand of politics which had placed expediency and power-games above the welfare of its young. Three generations of students had been cheated of their intellectual birthright while politicians plotted and prospered. Amazingly, in a curious reversal of a downward trend that had been believed to be irreversible, an English-language literature has been gradually reviving in the island with local writers learning to abandon their colonial prejudice, and publishers and booksellers perceiving that they have more to give the nation than Government-prescribed textbooks.
Sri Lanka’s beaches and her beautiful landscapes have always cast their spell on overseas visitors. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Sri Lanka Promotions Bureau saw in the 2008 GLF a heaven sent opportunity for promoting the island as a tourist destination. As the Bureau’s Chairman, Mr Renton de Alwis said, “The Galle Literary Festival is encouraging people from around the world to come, see and experience how much Sri Lanka has to offer in this treasured island – her beauty, her history, her culture and people and of course, her literature.” How often does reality deliver on such promises? January 2008 saw the opportunity pay off handsomely, to the joy, not only of writers and readers, but of hoteliers, restauranteurs and shop owners all over the south coast from Galle to Tangalla and beyond, as hundreds of book-lovers worldwide, informed about the happenings in Galle by a constantly updated website, flocked to the sleepy colonial city from as far afield as China, New Zealand and Europe. Hundreds of Sri Lankans, recognizing a valuable opportunity to steep themselves in a pleasurable literary experience, descended on Galle intent on enjoying once again the exhilaration of discovering great literature and hearing it talked about and read.
It is generally agreed, among those fortunate folk who attended both events, that GLF 2008 has been even better than GLF 2007 - not merely because it attracted more participants, presented a larger number of events, and ranged more widely (thematically) than last year's festival, all of which it did; but because it appears to have leapt from being the delightful get-together of literary aficionados in a romantic setting that it was in 2007, to generating the authentic joy and exhilaration of a true festival. It is hard to explain this in sober language, because when people say they 'loved' or 'enjoyed' GLF 2008, they use words such as 'exhilarating', 'uplifting', ‘exciting’, ‘fascinating’, 'pleasure' and 'joy'. They talk about the 'amazing’, ‘thrilling’ atmosphere, the ‘variety’, the ‘vivacity and verve’ of the sessions. One person who cares enough about books and carved out the time in her busy life to stay the whole five days, compared GLF 2008 favourably with the Edinburgh Festival, which had until last week been her idea of the perfect litfest. Another spoke of the ‘absolute joy’ she felt at being able to spend five wonderful days ‘in a politician-free zone’. As the curtain fell on the GLF’s last day, one columnist remarked that ‘the air was still electrified with the absolute joy of the thousands who got a rare treat, tasting the finest of literature’.
Speaking personally, I enjoyed every moment of it, the sessions in which I took some part, and those that I attended as a member of the audience. Highlights of a varied program of educational and cultural events included Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy, journalist Simon Winchester and historian William Dalrymple. Alexander McCall Smith, creator of that charmer from Botswana, 'Precious Ramotswe', had arrived in Galle ten days before the Festival began in order to get some writing done, and for the benefit of Festival-goers he unlocked the top secret files of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. McCall Smith lived up to my expectations of him as a fine writer, and a truly good man. (So few 'celebrities' are!) My husband and I had the pleasure of an undisturbed chat with him at the Amangalla (formerly Galle’s famous New Oriental Hotel).We are both fans of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and the other books in the series, so there was a great deal to talk about. Gore Vidal, with six decades of distinguished writing behind him, spoke on ‘The Nature of the American Empire’, of the challenges posed to writers and intellectuals by the rise of today’s ‘imperial’ America: it was a topic on which he lavished the wit and insight for which he is world-renowned, and which he demonstrated in a quieter, more private manner in the course of a 2-hour conversation with my husband on the verandah of the Lighthouse Hotel. At another session Brian Keenan, sharing stories about his five years as a hostage in Lebanon, moved many in the audience to tears.
It was good, too, to see the local scene so well represented at the GLF 2008, with events devoted to the development of 'Sri Lankan English' and to discussions relating to language as a bridge to peace which provided intellectual support for the contributions of individual local authors and the creative writing workshops held in the old Fort library.
The Festival ran for five days that were packed with author interviews, poetry readings, panel discussions, writing workshops, theatre, children’s activities, and topical debates on issues such as climate change and the possibility of achieving peace through language, all of it located in and around Galle’s historic Fort, a UN World Heritage site that effectively focused festival-goers’ attention on the region’s distinctive history and culture. Last year’s Festival had taken special notice of the work of Leonard Woolf, British author of The Village in the Jungle, and the years he spent as a colonial civil servant in the Southern Province. This year’s focused on Sri Lanka’s local and expatriate authors, among them Jean
Arasanayagam, Shyam Selvadurai, Carl Muller, Ashok Ferrey and Karen Roberts: a shift that foreshadows a likely emphasis in 2009 on Southern bi-lingual authors such as Ediriwira Sarachchandra and Martin Wickremesinghe. The island’s multi-faceted culture – and the numerous outstanding books that have been written about its various aspects – offers organizers of such events as the GLF the opportunity to mount events based on almost any subject under the sun. The organizers of the 2008 GLF were not slow to rise to this challenge, providing sessions devoted to writing on such varied topics as travel and exploration, art and architecture, lexicography and linguistics, satire and style, exile and expatriation, creative writing and publishing, literary autobiography and journalism, law and detection, fact and fiction, gay writing and wild life photography, sports writing, prejudice and war reporting, each illustrated by a panel of local and visiting writers.
Some attractive features of the first GLF were repeated the second time around, among them lunches and dinners devised and personally presented by award-winning cookery writers such as TV chef Sophie Grigson, Peter Kuruvita, Channa Dassanayake and Carina Cooper (last year’s popular choice was the peerless Madhur Jaffrey). Festival organisers had worked hard to develop the community aspect of the Festival with many free events available, a local school debating competition, a local school creative writing competition, and free passes provided to teachers from the Southern Province and university students.
GLF 2007 had been something of a gamble, an inspired initiative on the part of its founder, British entrepreneur and businessman Geoffrey Dobbs. GLF 2008 was no gamble at all but a sure bet. Provided that the safety afforded to visitors and guests by security police held firm, provided that Prabhakaran and his ‘Tamil Tigers’ confined their activities to their ‘traditional homelands’ in the Wanni and stayed out of the Southern Province, Dobbs and his carefully selected team of knowledgeable, open-minded literary talent scouts were confident that the second GLF would be even bigger and better than the first. They worked with dedication to make it so, and the Festival’s Director, Libby Southwell, said she was “overwhelmed” by the response received: “From the inspirational, moving and funny insights of our celebrated guests, to the wonderful hands-on opportunities for visitors to learn about creative writing, take part in poetry readings or learn about the architecture and history of the area, every event has received a fantastic reaction from our visitors.”
The expense, for a small country such as Sri Lanka, of mounting an event such as the GLF, is so high that careful budgeting and supportive sponsorship are absolutely essential. Somewhere, somehow, a balance must be found between ticket prices that are too high for the average pocket and a Festival program which, when posted on the Web, will offer the intellectual stimulation which alone can attract sophisticated, English-speaking participation from Sri Lanka and overseas. When audience numbers unexpectedly doubled over the weekend as the capital’s party-goers decided that Galle was the place to be, to see and be seen, one newspaper columnist warned that the GLF ran the risk of being capsized by kitsch; a second suggested that Geoffrey Dobbs may have hit accidentally on the perfect formula for success in 2009: since Sri Lanka’s ‘society’ equates high ‘culture’ with wealth, why not make it pay for the pleasure of seeing itself in the ‘society’ mags by putting on certain ‘exclusive’ – and expensive – events that would appeal to air-heads (fashion shows, jewellery displays and the like) and making the entire Festival difficult to get to?) A third, more serious suggestion has been that as air-heads and egg-heads have an equal right to attend the GLF, and this new interest from totally unexpected quarters might even result in general cultural uplift, a 2009 program should be devised that would cater to everyone’s tastes and capabilities. As the public appears to have taken the Festival to its heart in no small way, no doubt such uninvited suggestions from the GLF’s numerous fans will proliferate in the twelve months to come. 
One of the Festival’s principal plus points is, quite definitely, its location. The towering Galle Fort, dating from the 17th century, and today the heart of Sri Lanka’s leading southern city, has proved its value two years running in this regard. Combining romance and relevance, the U.N. World Heritage Fort provides several excellent venues for lecture and discussion, massive stone ramparts from which to view architecture and learn about history, shady trees beneath which to sit and autograph books or, alternatively, to dream about them over a picnic lunch. Writers-in-the-making responded in numbers to the Festival Committee’s imaginative choice of the picturesque old Galle Library as a location for creative writing workshops. Alexander McCall Smith’s fans lined up in a queue that snaked past the tamarind tree beneath which he sat signing books, twice around the Hall de Galle, and out the other side.
The presence at the GLF of internationally famous authors is a powerful attraction, not only to local readers, but to high-quality visitors to the island. This has obvious benefits for tourism, the hotel industry, and numerous associated organizations, which have suffered as a result of twenty five years of unrest and ethnic violence. The 2008 GLF welcomed Vikram Seth, Gore Vidal, William Dalrymple, Alexander McCall Smith and Simon Winchester, as well as the expatriate Lankan authors Karen Roberts, Indran Amirthanayagam and Shyam Selvadurai. Several new books were launched by local writers, including books by Rajiva Wijesinha, Elmo Jayawardana, Barbara Sansoni and Jean Arasanayagam. In the previous year, visiting authors included Marie Dobbs (the ‘Other Lady’ who completed Jane Austen’s unfinished last novel, Sanditon); Kiran Desai (2006 Man Booker Prize-winner); Madhur Jaffrey, actor and cookery-book writer; and Victoria Glendinning (biographer of Leonard Woolf, a British author who occupies a special place in the island’s literary firmament where he is known, not so much as the soulmate and life partner of Virginia Woolf, but as the author of Sri Lanka’s first great English-language novel, The Village in the Jungle).
The 2008 program, meticulously worked out to the last minute and second of the Festival’s life, was a resounding success, in terms of the quality cultural experience it delivered to participants. “What astounded me about this festival was it seemed so well established – and yet so fresh,” was Vikram Seth’s admiring response, as well over a thousand lovers of good writing flocked to Galle, confirming the Festival’s reputation as one of the most successful events of its kind in the world. The financial profits made in January will hopefully, with help from sponsors, guarantee a third GLF in 2009. This year’s program offered twice as many events as last year. Fringe events such as an exhibition looking at the lives of 80 people who live in the Fort, cookery workshops, a special programme of events for children and a venue devoted to the work of environment groups raising awareness about issues such as climate change also proved popular. Many of the volunteers were young Sri Lankans from schools and universities, who would have welcomed the special concessions offered to students buying tickets. One visitor who had come to Galle from Hong Kong said it was “the best-attended and the best organized event I have ever attended. The line-up of speakers was just phenomenal, and the buzz at all the venues and all around the Fort was absolutely magical. There was just so much choice, and you didn’t want to miss anything because the quality was so high.”
From the educational point of view, especially as regards the future employability of Sri Lanka’s school- and university-going population, annual events such as the Galle Literary Festival, which celebrates the English language in all its multi-faceted uses, could prove to be a boon. The nation’s G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination results for 2006 showed that only 36.82 percent of students who sat the examination passed the English language paper. Statistics from the Department of Examinations showed that 86 zones out of 92 achieved a pass rate below 20 percent. Figures such as these are dismal when it is remembered that Sri Lanka, a nation lacking mineral resources such as gold or oil, finds its resources in its people and the industries that will drive the economy forward. The development of the island’s garment industry, IT, banking and hospitality industry (today’s top earners) will depend on the employability of its work force. And yet the sad truth is that even graduates and students who have done well in their A Levels are overlooked for many jobs in these areas because they lack the necessary skills in communicating in English. The
business community is agreed that the level of English currently available among job applicants is, in terms of quantity and quality, far below what is necessary for Sri Lanka to position herself well in today’s global environment.
“After 60 years of independence, a majority of our talented youth still do not get what they deserve,” wrote Devan Daniel on the 4th of February, Sri Lanka’s Independence Day,. “The English are long gone and we celebrate today, but we have thus far failed our children in many ways, one of which is our failure to teach them English.”
The reasons for this situation are many and they are manifold. The nation today is not unified but fragmented. Language policies of the past, together with a 30-year conflict, have created bitterness in people’s minds and forged separate identities based on language differences. This situation has been accentuated by the fact that each community has, over three generations, been forced by law to study exclusively in its own language. Education, which should have been a catalyst for unity, emphasized differences by making specific language streams cater to specific ethnic groups. The local element in the GLF’s audiences includes numerous adults who learned Sinhala or Tamil, with no common base for interaction or communication. English, which could and should have provided that common base was prevented from playing that useful role by the fact that the language policies governing education robbed the nation of its English teachers who, seeing the writing on the wall as early as 1958 and realizing that it was not in English, migrated in large numbers to countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada and the USA, where their children would be guaranteed an English-language education.
Their exodus diminished the nation’s expertise in English and with it, naturally, its hold on knowledge at any kind of sophisticated level. Worst of all, English had become a factor for division (referred to as a kaduwa, or “sword” by people disadvantaged by their lack of competence in it) and the English language, when well taught here (usually for a high fee at an International School), continues to be a social marker, distinguishing the ‘haves’ from the ‘have nots’.
The GLF organizers recognize the English language as a key to cultural enrichment and literary pleasure, and select Festival guests, activities and topics in the light of that recognition. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, in the national context, their attitude is a naïve one. Sri Lankans who are fluent users of English today regard their own command of the English language either as a passport to an outside world of economic opportunity unavailable to them here, or as a marker of their social and intellectual superiority to the ‘have nots’ in their community.
Bedevilled by the politics of language, Sri Lanka has been prevented for 50 years from either developing the linguistic expertise it had in the 1940s or seeing in her school-leaving students the stature and confidence that a knowledge of English can bring its citizens. Obviously, a literary festival cannot repair in five days the damage done in fifty years, but the wide range of the GLF program, which takes in art, architecture, theatre, poetry, spirituality, travel and many other areas of interest, demonstrates that English books are available to everyone on every imaginable subject, providing at the same time an annual opportunity for people to encounter and enjoy the English language as it is written and spoken today by world-famous writers and by local writers of quality.
It should be mentioned, too, that despite the damage done to the nation’s education system by the errors of past governments, and the loss over many years of a great deal of pedagogic expertise, Sri Lanka’s English-language writers have battled on, and have created a small but valid literary milieu in which writers, editors and publishers manage to make a living, while book clubs and writing workshops keep the flickering flame of literary activity alive. The GLF gives English-language writers and local publishers a chance to come out of their isolation, to discuss common interests and problems with experienced overseas professionals, to measure their skills and abilities against theirs, and to enter if they can, the global literary community.
Planning is already in progress for the 2009 Galle Literary Festival. All the strengths of the earlier Festivals are to be developed, while some initiatives that were tried out for the first time in 2008 with good results, are likely to be built upon in interesting ways. 
One such initiative relates to language. Pursuing its aim to strengthen community perceptions of the many uses of English, the 2008 GLF set itself to observe, on the one hand, how English functions as a link-language between communities and ethnic groups; and on the other, to study the ways in which, in its rapidly changing and developing manifestation as ‘Sri Lankan English’, it performs as the language of fiction and poetry. Sri Lanka’s literary heritage, in both Sinhala and Tamil, is rich and deep, and not a few of the island’s authors who work in English have already made the pilgrimage back to beginnings in order to enrich their own writing. A very well attended session on ‘English in Sri Lanka’ was featured on the Festival’s very first day, at which Michael Meyler, author/editor of the first dictionary of Sri Lankan English, discussed with Richard Boyle, the Oxford English Dictionary’s Sri Lankan English consultant, the use of English and its nuances in contemporary Sri Lankan culture and writing. In successive sessions, throughout the Festival, some of the island’s internationally known local authors were invited, singly, in pairs, and in panel discussions at which questions from the audience were invited and answered, to disclose their experiences of ‘The Writing Life’ and ‘The Voice Within’, and readings were presented from English translations of Sinhala and Tamil writing, including that of Sri Lanka’s eminent Sinhala novelist and essayist, Martin Wickramasinghe.
The next step, for an organization committed primarily to the enrichment of Sri Lanka’s cultural life through celebration and development of English, but interested in reaching out to writers who work in the island’s other languages, is to explore the further possibilities of translations. With 2009 in view, the GLF committee is already working with Festival partner Sri Lanka Telecom to fund translations of two still-to-be-decided works from Sinhala and Tamil into English, of selected English works into Sinhala and Tamil, and of selected Tamil works into Sinhala and English.
“The Festival has a stronger community focus this year,” said Libby Southwell, the Festival’s Director, “with local school children involved in preparing for a debating competition, a number of teachers from the Southern Province invited to attend and then share their experiences with other teaching professionals and pupils, and sixty university students being given complimentary passes to attend.”
As an author and literary editor, and for many years a University teacher of English Literature, I deeply appreciate the enlightenment and varied pleasures that English brings with it. I have found it a joy to be intimately involved in both 2007 and 2008 with a Festival that openly celebrates the diversity of the English language. The Galle Literary Festival could turn out to be a great event not just for Galle but for the whole of Sri Lanka. This year’s Festival was, above all, a celebration of the use of the English language, written, heard and spoken. It focused on the ways in which language and communication help improve educational opportunities, stimulate debate and act as a force for change.
Emeritus Professor Yasmine Gooneratne, novelist, poet and literary critic, Patron of the 2008 Galle Literary Festival and of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, is a Trustee of the Pemberley International Study Centre in Haputale, Sri Lanka. . Her latest novel, The Sweet and Simple Kind (2006), has been longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
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Sources:
Galle Literary Festival 2008 Sri Lanka: www.galleliteraryfestival.com
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