Literary festival and book fair opens in Dubai on Friday

Dubai Art Lovers Association (Dala), a UAE-based socio-cultural organisation of expat Indians from Kerala, is organising a literary festival and book fair in Dubai with the participation of publishers, writers, novelists and short story writers from India and the UAE.

Dala Sahithyolsavam 2013, a continuation of the literary festivals organised by Dala for several years, will open at the Gulf Model School in Qusais, Dubai at 10am on Friday.

The event will also have a competition for creative writers, quiz competitions, drama, and cultural exhibitions, the event’s organisers said. The event is held every year.

"A majority of the visitors to the Sharjah International Book Fair in the previous years were Keralites. According to official figures, 30 per cent of the books displayed and sold during the Sharjah Book Fair were from India," said K M Abbas, Vice President, Dala Sahithyolsavam 2013. The current literary festival coincides with the birth centenary of well-known Malayalam writer S K Pottekkattu.

"There is a big reading community here which is interested in both Malayalam and English literature. We started about five years ago and are doing very well. We are opening a new shop in Lamcy Plaza next month. We have been participating in all Dala literary festivals. During book fairs in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, we got good feedback and about 70 per cent of the books sold at these festivals were Malayalam books. People prefer non-fiction and children’s books. The reading habit is not waning in this part of the world because parents insist that their children read books," said Sam K Abraham, Sales Manager, DC Books.

Sam said a good collection of Malayalam books will be displayed at the Dala Sahithyolsavam.  "We are organising the literary festival on a larger scale this year because many new books in English and Malayalam have been published by UAE-based Indian writers. Diaspora literature is being seriously watched here and in India. Prabha Verma, KEN Kunjahammed and Madhupal, three writers and critics from Kerala, will be heading separate literary sessions,” said K L Gopi, a Dala official in charge of the literary festival..

"Dala Sahithyolsavam is organised on the patterns of the Jaipur Literary Festival," he added. More than 1,000 visitors are expected to actively participate in the literary festival. The morning session is for discussing novels, in which 30 writers will participate. There will be sessions for short stories and poetry too.

“Though the reading habit of the expat Keralite community has been waning due to increased use of Internet and TV channels, there is still strong interest in literary works. The literary festival is an annual occasion to rekindle interest in reading and writing,” said Gopi.

Writers like Shabu K Kilithattil, Moideen Koya and others will moderate various sessions of the literary festival.

Dala, which is a member of the Indian Community Welfare Committee, has been regularly conducting literary festivals, art and culture shows and doing humanitarian work for the  Indian expatriate community.

 

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