Shanta Gokhale, Sumana Roy, William Dalrymple and Ramesh Ghadi to feature in GALF 2025 inaugural on Feb 13

Goa Khabar : Sahitya Akademi award winner Shanta Gokhale and academic, writer and poet, Sumana Roy will be the power-packed duo inaugurating the 13 th Goa arts and literature festival (GALF) with their keynote addresses at 5 pm on Thursday, February 13 at the International Centre Goa (ICG). The event is free and open to the public.

The inaugural event will also see the unveiling of the GALF artwork created by artist, Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal and a poetry reading by Ramesh Ghadi. The evening will conclude with an exclusive book discussion of the award-winning Scottish historian William Dalrymple’s latest book, “The Golden Road; how ancient India transformed the world” with Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. Vidya Dehejia.

The main festival which will take place over Friday, February 14 th and Saturday, February 15 th at the ICG, will see several interesting book discussions, poetry readings and book releases. These will include the British translator of Korean fiction Deborah Smith, whose translation of “The
Vegetarian” by Han Kang won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016; noted herpetologist and Padma Shri awardee, Romulus Whitaker’s book, “Snakes, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll”, co- authored with his wife Janaki Lenin; RS Nilkantan’s political commentary, “South vs North: India's Great Divide”, SN Kannanari’s “Chronicle of an Hour and a Half” which won the 2024 Atta Galata Award and the Crossword Book Award for Best Fiction; South African writer, Shubnum Khan and her novel, “The Djinn waits a hundred years”, historian Manu Pillai’s latest book, “Gods, Guns & Missionaries”; internationally acclaimed journalist, Anjan Sundaram and his award winning memoirs and Aparajith Ramnath, award-winning historian of science, technology, and business with his book, “Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya” among many others.

Damodar Mauzo, Jnanpith award winner and co-curator of GALF said, “GALF is different from the hundred odd literature festivals in India. The deliberations are serious and the ambience is intimate and homely, making it a unique festival.”

While Yatin Kakodkar, president of the ICG said, “This is the 13 th  edition of GALF and we at the ICG are extremely happy and proud to host this eclectic, interesting event for yet another year.”