Kerala Literature Festival concludes, finds place in World Tourism Calendar
The Hindu
Kozhikode
When the 6th edition of the Kerala Literature Festival concluded in Kozhikode on Sunday, the organisers had a lot to celebrate as the event was included in the World Tourism Calendar. The Thrissur Pooram and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale are other events in Kerala that have found a place in the tourism calendar.
At the valedictory session, chief facilitator of the event Ravi Deecee said the four-day festival witnessed a footfall of over four lakh and the 7th edition would be held at the same venue from January 11 to 14, 2024. Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas was the chief guest at the valedictory session while MLA Thottathil Raveendran presided.
In an earlier session, actor-politician Kamal Haasan said he had taken part in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra as he wanted to work for a “unified India”. “I would have walked the streets of Delhi during the Emergency if I had that much sense of politics at the time,” he said. In a conversation with writers Paul Zacharia, B. Jeyamohan and critic C.S. Venkiteswaran, he said the film Hey Ram was his first step to joining politics. He called upon listeners to find their own politics.
Actor Prakash Raj in a session on ‘What I miss about movie theatre’ said he enjoyed the community experience it provided. He said OTT platforms had not diminished cinema, but had enhanced it. Speaking on movies with right-wing politics, he said the right-wing, with no history of its own, was rewriting history.
Prarthana Prasad is a social media influencer, entrepreneur and a leading voice from the LGBTQ+ community. At a recent Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Conclave held in Bengaluru she opened up about how she is often a “token ticket” for the corporate world, increasingly contacted by brands for promotion during Pride Month.