Fifth Edition Of ‘Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters’ To Begin From Feb 8

MBIFL 2024: This year’s theme is ‘Exploring Plurality’ and the event plans to host above 300 speakers and performers from across India and overseas.

Fifth Edition Of ‘Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters’ To Begin From Feb 8

MBIFL 2024: Malayalam publication Mathrubhumi is all set to host the fifth edition of its 'International Festival of Letters’ from February 8-11 at the Kanakakunnu Palace in Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram. This year’s theme for the festival is ‘Exploring Plurality’, and the event plans to host more than 300 speakers and performers from across India and overseas. 

In a statement, Mathrubhumi said they have hosted more than 1,500 speakers over the past four editions, and that a majority of them have been youngsters, with tens of thousands people attending the fest. 

The speakers of the annual event last year included Nobel-laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, Booker-winner Shehan Karunatilaka, Jokha Al Harthi, Booker shortlisted Colum McCann, Icelandic novelist and lyricist Sjon, Bloomsbury’s Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Pringle and leading writers in several regional languages, including Malayalam.

This year, Chigozie Obioma, Raj Kamal Jha, J Sai Deepak, Shashi Tharoor, Ma Anand Sheela, Samar Yasbek, Tessy Thomas, Ruchira Gupta, Nandini Das, Ramachandra Guha, Jeet Thayil, Francesc Miralles are among a few of the 152 speakers from around the globe who have confirmed their participation in the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, the organisers said in a statement.

Mathrubhumi came into existence in 1923, and has been a witness to the making of independent India. According to the publication, founders KP Kesava Menon and K Madhavan Nair, among others, championed social reforms, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

"M.P. Veerendra Kumar, our longest-serving Chairman & Managing Director who left us in 2020, carried forward this legacy further by reaffirming our unswerving commitment to the abiding values of truth, equality, and liberty, as well as a secular polity. Our history is also intertwined with that of modern and progressive Kerala, which became a unified entity in 1956, in part through our relentless campaign," the statement read.