A POPULAR book and cultural festival returns to Bahrain next week with the participation of more than 30 publishers from around the world, and prominent litérateurs.
The fifth 10-day Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS) International Literary and Cultural Fest 2020 will be held at the society’s premises in Segaiya, from Wednesday until February 29.
“A consortium of all major publishers in India is taking part in this year’s festival, thus providing book-lovers the opportunity to select from a very wide range of publications,” said BKS president P V Radhakrishna Pillai and general secretary Varghese Karakkal at a Press conference.
Prominent personalities expected to take part in the festival are Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury; MP, former minister and writer Jairam Ramesh; former Bharatiya Janata Party, Kerala president C K Padmanabhan; news anchor and India Today group editor Rajdeep Sardesai; poet K G Sankara Pillai; authors Subhas Chandran and Shihab Poythum Kadam; author, poet and former Kerala minister Dr M K Muneer; writer and former Kerala minister M A Baby; Muslim Youth League president Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal; author and journalist K R Meera; and short-story writer V R Sudheesh.
Omani author Jokha Al Haris, who is the recipient of the Man Booker International prize in 2019, will also attend the festival along with other noted Arab writers. A part of the proceeds of the festival will go towards local charities.
Meanwhile, the following competitions will be held as part of the festival, in two age groups – eight to 12 and 13 to 18:
Wednesday: Story writing competition; February 21: Cover designing competition, and February 22: Poetry writing competition.
Registrations for the story writing and poetry writing competitions close on Sunday.
For details, call 39920185 or 39083090.
Registration for the cover designing competition closes tomorrow. Call 33453500 or 33375612 for details.
A literary quiz based on Indian and international literature, QLIT, will be held from Wednesday to February 21.
Three-member teams comprising three children (Group 1) or three adults (Group 2) can register before Tuesday.
Call 39252456 for further information.
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