GOA, Dec 06, TEN Network | The Goa Arts and Literary Festival (GALF) got underway in Goa without its contingent from Kashmir after organisers said they were unable to get in touch with writers from the region they wanted to take part on account of the ongoing internet embargo.
Sahitya Academy winning author Damodar Mauzo, who is curating the festival, said while speaking to reporters that an inability to reach out to Kashmiri writers has impacted the festival.
“Since this was going to be the 10th edition, we were keen to invite writers from not only the northeast but Kashmir. Unfortunately, for the last four months, we have been trying desperately to reach out to them in vain,” Mauzo said.
This year’s edition has a special session on Kashmir titled ‘Flashpoint 2019: Morning in Kashmir’ during which Masood Hussain, a renowned artist from Kashmir, and author-campaigner Nandita Haksar will be speaking to David Devadas.
Mauzo said he had tried to get in touch with poet Naseem Shafaie, the first woman Kashmiri woman to win a Sahitya Akademi award, to invite her for the event, but could not.
When they finally spoke after Shafaie travelled out of the Valley for medical reasons and she “was almost on the verge of tears, and so was I.”
“Kashmiri writers in the past attended a GALF edition and discussed and debated the Kashmir issue threadbare in a very open manner. We also had the Pakistani journalist of Goan origin, Cyril Almeida attending one of the GALF editions,” Mauzo said.
Mauzo maintained that controversy was good for literature.
“Dissent is always good for literature. There is nothing more democratic than literature. We encourage divergent views and opinions all the time. Audiences are able to distinguish the good from the bad.”
GALF is a three-day event that will conclude on Saturday and has seen the presence of prominent faces from the literary field in its past editions. (HT)
