As the ten day long festival of book and literature comes to an end, here’s what the first ever international book fair and lit fest at Kochi looked like

Words by: Charishma Thankappan              Image Credits: Krithi Fest and FWD Media

Like a sparkling new book that one looks forward to with bated breath and itchy hands, the maiden edition of Krithi International Book Fair and International Festival of Books and Authors was awaited with much eagerness by books and literature enthusiasts from around the city. The image of the crow scrawled all over with Vylopilly’s poem Kaakka, the huge white posters with witty one-liners like ‘Kili varum’ only served to heighten the anticipation. And come March 1, the release day seemed to promise much, with it being a gala festival of more than just books and literature. But how did the story proceed? Read on to find out…

It has been a welcome festival much looked forward to by organisers and visitors alike. The Krithi International Book Fair and International Festival of Books and Authors has filled a space in the hollow absence of a quality literature festival and an arena that allowed book lovers to come together under the same roof.

The book fair, held at Marine Drive Ground, has seen over 100 stalls from various state, national, independent, and co-operative publication houses. It has attracted the young and old alike and seen the record footfalls of over 40,000 in one single day. The book fair also has amidst its stalls, two stages set up where book releases, poetry sessions, presentations, and allied activities have been taking place. Among prominent persons who have made their presence felt at the book fair were Shashi Tharoor, Kalamandalam Gopi Asan, and Mammootty.

The interesting chapters

Some of the highlights of the book fair venue include stalls that are dedicated to being knowledge providers beyond books. The Department of Archives, a stall on Muziris Heritage Project, and the Department of History from Calicut University have exhibited some of the historical secrets and findings unearthed in our own land.

Adjacent to the book stalls has been set up the huge Changampuzha stage, which has been the venue for the Krithi Arts Fest. Here is where the evenings were imbued with cultural hues as performances were held each evening, 6pm onwards, such as Kathakali, Nangiarkoothu, drama, violin concert, etc. The penultimate day of the book fest will see a performance of the band Agam on March 10, Saturday.

An equally important part of the book fair has been the Krithi Food Fest – a food court set up in the premises that serves to replenish the weary visitor with fresh refreshments in the form of hot meals, snacks, and beverages. With stalls from various organisations, notable among these have been the Jaxo Jackfruit Shop which specialises in numerous products that are made entirely with jackfruits, such as jackfruit chips, chilli jackfruit, jackfruit unniappam, jackfruit vada, etc. Another stall towards the end of the food court was a crowd puller, with two ladies preparing snacks such as rolls and cutlets made from kadachakka. They even elaborated upon the benefits of the fruit and how its versatility was unknown to the Malayalis.

The Krithi International Festival of Books and Authors that began on March 7, ran parallel to the book fair. A first of its kind in India, the book fair is the initiative of the Kerala government, which was held at Bolgatty Palace. Spanning five stages within the premises of Bolgatty Palace, the event saw the participation of several great minds who spoke on stirring subjects that spurred debates and discussions among the literary fraternity.  

Where the plot is killed

“The organisation of the fest has been quite abysmal; but hopefully things will improve the next time,” said Devyani, a writer from Delhi, who had come to visit the fest. The literary festival saw some engaging participation; however, was left wanting in footfalls. Most sessions showed a dismal performance of audience participation; while some sessions were a hearty sight, such as those of Perumal Murugan, Sachidanandan, NS Madhavan, Babu Thaliath, M Mukundan, Shashi Kumar, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, etc. The lack of footfall could be attributed to the choice of location of the literature fest, which was held in Bolgatty Palace, far from the heart of the city.

In some of the sessions, the topics given to the speakers left a lot to be desired in terms of depth. On the other hand, some of the speakers were a poor image of their fame when it came to in-depth analysis of subjects, with most of them missing the target completely and seemed to have forgotten what the topic was, and instead just talked what they wanted or knew.

Perhaps the dimmed spirit rubbed off on the audience as well, with audience interaction being minimal to nil in some of the sessions, while others asked questions that seemed to be for the sake of it. Yet, the Malayali audience seemed to be drawn towards politicisation of subjects regardless of their relevance to it. And not to mention, the audience behaviour also asked for a lot of discipline and courtesy, as several people walked off even in the middle of the sessions, which was a common sight in perhaps each of the sessions.

The Krithi Food Fest at Marine Drive was a sham as it was just a space with a few food stalls delivering the regular fare. It would have been better if there were more choices and number of stalls and cuisines to choose from.

The registration price of Rs 500 also came in for flak from several ends as the results that were delivered did not match up to the promises – securing front row seats in sessions that had hardly any participation, and providing of free lunch, which lacked choice and was restricted to a vegetarian meal of rice and a few curries.

Afterword

The book fair is at its fag end, and those who have not been able to experience it yet have a chance in these last two days, after which the book fair comes to an end on Sunday, March 11. In the end, it is a remarkable initiation by the government, in coordination with Sahithya Pravarthaka Cooperative Society (SPCS), and is something that needs our support as literature enthusiasts. More number of schools need to participate in the book fair by bringing in children, and a more convenient location of the literature fest needs to be considered next time. Till then, here’s to a great and promising start as we look forward to the sequel next year!