New Delhi: Like clockwork every winter for the past four years, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hosted the curtain-raiser event of the Kerala Literature Festival at his residence in Lodhi Estate on Thursday. At 7 pm, cars began slowly pulling into the driveway as dignitaries, authors, publishers and influencers arrived to attend the event that would green-signal one of India’s most prestigious literary gatherings. The festival is scheduled to be held from January 22 to 25 in Kozhikode.
Tharoor asserted the role of literature in creating spaces that celebrate humanity.
“When German and Indian storytellers gather on the warm sands of Kozhikode beach, they will affirm literature’s timeless role in fostering compassion and creating thriving societies,” the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, said.
Tharoor made sure he greeted every guest, posed for fans and the media, and played a gracious host with a well-stocked bar and an uninterrupted supply of Kerala-inspired finger food. Even the bar decor had hardbound classics like Dracula and Little Women, which guests leafed through while waiting for their drinks.
When Tharoor finally took the stage, everyone listened with rapt attention.
“In an age when divisiveness threatens to splinter our world, such cultural collaborations are also acts of quiet resistance. They remind us that what unites humanity is far more important than what divides us,” said Tharoor. He also welcomed German ambassador Philipp Ackermann and Michael Heinst, director of Goethe Institute at Max Mueller Bhawan in Bengaluru, along with Ravi Deecee, managing partner at DC Books.
“It is one of the Delhi festivities that has to be inscribed in the calendar,” said Ackermann, as he addressed the gathering in the cold December evening.
The India-Germany bond
Germany is the guest nation at the upcoming literary festival. It will feature German authors, pavilions, cultural events, and partnerships with the Goethe-Institut and German Consulate. Last year, the guest nation was France.
Tharoor spoke of how German literature has had a profound influence on literary studies in India, even in translation. He also mentioned the German novelist, poet and playwright Gunter Grass, whom Tharoor featured in the epigraph of his book, The Great Indian Novel.
He spoke of German-Swiss poet and novelist Hermann Hesse, whose book was made into the movie Siddhartha (1972) by Conrad Rooks.
“His book remains a testament to the enduring connections between German and Indian thoughts. Bertolt Brecht, who helped us transform the way we understand the relationship between art and social change. These are not German stories but belong to everyone who seeks meaning in literature,” said Tharoor.
After Tharoor, Decee took to the stage and explained how Germany has a deep connection with Kerala, because of Hermann Gundert, the missionary who stayed in the state for 20 years, picking up Malayalam. Gundert went on to publish Kerala’s first newspaper, Rajya Samacharam, and the English-Malayalam dictionary that is the standard to date.
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‘Literature breathes beyond borders’
Asserting the role of the festival in celebration of literature’s democratic spirit, Tharoor mentioned the writing residency for German writers in Vagamon and a creative writing workshop for young Malayalam authors. One side of the Kozhikode beach is also going to be a permanent venue for the festival.
“Literature breathes beyond borders, stories transcend territorial boundaries, the written words weave perhaps the most enduring bridge between countries,” said Tharoor.
Important voices from contemporary German literature, like Mithu Sanyal, Christopher Kloeble, Shida Bazyar, Max Czollek, and Hadija Haruna, will also be part of the festival.
The ninth edition of the festival is the biggest so far, with more than 250 sessions across seven tracks with more than 400 speakers. Kozhikode is also the first Indian city to become a UNESCO City of Literature in 2023.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)