The 10th anniversary edition of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) will be held at the International Centre Goa (ICG), Dona Paula between December 5-7 this year.
GALF 2019 will be an historic celebration of the milestone achievements of this extraordinary homegrown festival, which has become beloved by delegates and audiences alike, and achieved a stellar international reputation even while retaining its strict independence and integrity, and remaining volunteer-driven.
Founded in 2009 by co-curators Damodar Mauzo and Vivek Menezes of the Goa Writers group, with the consistent partnership, support and organization of ICG, the GALF is amongst the premier gatherings in the nation’s intellectual calendar, with a dazzling list of achievements over the past decade.
Many of its prominent well-wishers and supporters will return for the anniversary celebrations, including the novelist and translator Jerry Pinto, Hindi writer Mridula Garg, award-winning Kannada writer Vivek Shanbhag, poets Keki Daruwalla, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Ranjit Hoskote, Hemant Divate and Sumana Roy, and journalists of Goan origin, Samar Halarnkar and Naresh Fernandes.
GALF 2019 will be inaugurated by the writer from Arunachal Pradesh, Mamang Dai, and scholar, Harish Trivedi. The inaugural will also see the unveiling of the official 10th anniversary artwork, exclusively created by artist Savia Viegas. GALF 2019 will host exclusive launches for the highly commended ‘Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent’ by Priyamvada Gopal, Amruta Patil’s newest graphic novel ‘Aranyaka’, Keshava Guha’s debut novel ‘Accidental Magic’ and the extraordinary diaspora memoir (originally written in Norwegian) ‘Stranger at My Table’ by Ivo de Figueiredo.
Canadian-Goan author Derek Mascarenhas will also be making his India debut at the festival, alongside writers from Australia (including Goa’s own Suneeta Peres da Costa), Spain, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Cuba and Afghanistan.
The central theme of GALF2019 will be deliberations and discussions about ‘Different Ways of Belonging’ – an idea and concept derived from a poem by the late, Eunice de Souza, which has animated the festival philosophy throughout the past decade. Throughout the programme schedule, this topic will be examined, discussed and debated from pluralistic viewpoints and a consistent emphasis on what is usually considered the margins: Dalit voices, the economically disadvantages, the North Eastern states, Kashmir, and our own tiny Goa.
