Thiruvananthapuram: Celebration of literature

Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, four years short of its century recently announced a Rs 5 lakh 'Book of the Year' award, explaining that "there were so many good books out there that we decided to turn a new page".

The award will be presented at the third edition of the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL) in Thiruvananthapuram from January 30-February 2.

''The Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award is a commitment from Mathrubhumi to honour the best in Indian literature every year. We are inspired to honour and celebrate brilliant works and encourage the publishers to look for the best writing by Indian authors," the newspaper's Joint MD Shreyams Kumar said.

The award is open to Indian writers whose works are published in India. Works in regional languages should be translated to English to be eligible for the award.

With a theme of 'Shrinking Spaces; Transcending Letters', the third edition of MBIFL is a celebration of the liberating scope of human imagination and encouraging our innate spark of artistic, cultural and creative potential. In this short span, the festival has established itself on the cultural calendar of Kerala.

"With its first two editions itself, MBIFL has created its own space on the map of cultural festivals in India. The feedback from the speakers and the audience has been positive and encouraging. As we move on to our third edition, we look for more associations to add value to the festival in terms of workshops and masterclasses so that we will be able to contribute to the literary as well as the creative landscape of the state," said festival director Sabin Iqbal.