Sahithi 2017- The International Literary Festival

Malayalam Universityconducts InternationalLiterary Festival named Sahethiin the month of February,every year.Sri Sethu, a famous Malayalam novelist, inaugurated the 4^thSahethion 21^st February inAkshramcampus of the University.Professor P K Rajashekaran delivered the key note address on the topic ‘60 years of Malayalam Literature’in the inaugural function.

The main sub-themes of the Festival are Water Maps in Literary Writings, What happened to Literary Criticism?, Novel’s Women Path, and Words and Drawings.K Kaladharan, a famous drama artist and dramatist, delivered a lectureon ‘Life in the Stage’ inSahithi-2017. Chat with the Poet was one of the well-attended programme in the SahethiFestival.Kalpatta Narayanan and T P Rajeevan, notable Malayalam poets, were the main attraction of that programme.Sri. M N Karasseri delivered a lecture on ‘Politics of Language’. Top Literary figures in Malayalam like PerumbadamSreedharan, Narayanan, K A Sebestian, Joney Miranda, Lisey , Ratheedevi, Sangeetha Sreenevasan, Dr.K V Sajay, Dr.CR Prasad, Indugopalan, Suresh P Thomas were participated in the Festival.

Emerging poets like Anil Panachooan, P Raman, GireeshPuleyoor, DivakaranVishnumangalam, S Kalesh and RoshniSwapna were participated and made the Festival colourful by singing their respective poems in a programme called Kavya Sandhya or Poetry Evening.

Three movies were secerned as a part of Sahethi festival. They are AkkithamErupathanNoottandindeMoonnaskaram (on poet Akkitham), PuzaMuthalPuzhaVare(on novelist C Radhakrishnan) and Atoor RaviVarma (on poet Atoor Ravi Varma). These movies were produced by Malayalam University as a part of the programme named Golden Lines or SuvarnaRekha.

As a part of Sahethi-2017, a photo exhibition of literary figures in Malayalam were also conducted. These pictures were photographed by PunaloorRajan, a famous professional photographer in Kerala. These photographs are now a part of Literary Archive of Malayalam University.

Umbai’sGazal concert and student’s drama named VailnuAnnuNallaChoodayirunnu(directed by RoshniSwapna)were the main cultural events inSahathi-2017.

Literary competitions for university students were the main attraction in Sahethi-2017.For this programme students from all the universities in Kerala were participated. The winners’ details are as follows:

Short Story:

First Prize: Krishnendu,University of Calicut.

Second Prize: Akhil P David, Malayalam University.

Third Prize:AShahna,Govt.College. Kalpatta.

Poetry:

First Prize: AlbinKinshook,FarookCollege,Kozikode.

Second Prize: A S Amrutha, Malayalam University.

Third Prize: Ando Sabin George, Malayalam University & Neethu Subramanian Sanskrit University, Kalady.

Literary Quiz:

First Prize: AjeeshDettan and Vijayakumar,Sanskrit University, Kalady.

Second Prize: Hather CH and Jishnu, PSMO College, Malappuram.

Third Prize: Manu KV and Sreekanth D, Sanskrit University, Kalady& Aparna R and Vishnu T, Malayalam University.

Sahethi-2017 was concluded on February 23^rd. Dr KadijaMunthaz, SahithyaAkdamy Vice-President, was the guest of honour of the concluding ceremony.

An Organizing committee was set up for the smooth conduct ofSahethi-2017. K Jayakumar, Vice Chancellor of Malayalam University, T AnithaKumari, Dean, Faculty of Literature,was the Chairman and General Convener respectively of the Organizing Committee.

Book Festival

A book festival was conducted as a part of Sahethi-2017. There were separate stalls for classics, mythology, scientific literature and modern literature in the book fest.Almost all major Malayalam publishers associated with the book fest. The publishers were Mathrubhumi books, prabath Books, Olive Publishers, DC Books, Green Books, Lipi Publishers, Logos Books, Kerala Bhasha Institute, Purna Publishers, Kerala State Book Mark and Malayalam University Publications. Price reduction up to 35 percent were announced for books and there were separate price reduction for libraries also in the book fest.

Photo Exhibition

A Literary Photo exhibition by Sri PunaloorRajan were another attraction in Sahethi 2017. He exhibited rare photographs of 60 literary personalities in Kerala which captured the developments in literature for the last 60 years in united Keralam. The exhibition displayed the rare life moments of Basheer, Thakazi, Kesahavdev, SK Pottakkad, Uroob, VT Bhttathirippad, Edasherri, Villopilli, Mundessari, MT, Vayalar, BalammaniAmma, MadhaviKutti, VKN, SukumarAziyikkode, NP Muhammad, Kakkanadan, Churakad, Thikodiyan, Zakaria, ONV, Kadammanitta, P Bhaskran etc. Later Sri. PunaloorRajan donated these photographs to the University. This photo exhibition were conducted under the leadership of Sri.MangadRathnakaran, a senior journalist. The exhibition was designed by Sri.PradeepChandrakumar.