Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters

The Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL) is an annual literary festival that takes place in the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.[1]

Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters
The logo of the Mathrubhumi International Festival Of Letters 2023
GenreLiterary festival
Location(s)Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
CountryIndia
Years active5
InauguratedFebruary 2, 2018 (2018-02-02)
Most recentJanuary 30 to February 2, 2020
Next eventFebruary 2 to February 5, 2023
Activity
Organised byMathrubhumi
Websitewww.mbifl.com

History and organisation

Founding

It was founded in 2018[2][3] and is organised by the Mathrubhumi newspaper group. The Festival Director is Sabin Iqbal.[4]

2018 and 2019 editions

The inaugural edition of the festival happened over three days from 2 February to 4 February 2018. Owing to the good response, the second edition of the festival was extended by a day and it took place from 31 January to 3 February 2019.

2020 edition

In 2019 it was announced that a "Book of the Year" Literary Award "to honour and celebrate the best in Indian literature", would be presented for the first time at the 2020 festival, with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh being given to the best work of fiction published in English.[5]

The third edition of the festival took place from 30 January to 2 February 2020,[6][7] with the theme "Shrinking Spaces, Transcending letters" and featuring some 350 speakers from India and around the world.[8] Notable participants, representing leading Indian writers as well as some 40 names from abroad, included Lemn Sissay, Margaret Busby, Dean Atta, Alexander McCall Smith, Tatenda Taibu, Romesh Gunesekera, Shashi Tharoor and M. T. Vasudevan Nair, with discussions taking place on a wide range of topics covering all aspects of arts and culture, gender, politics, sports, and other topics.[9]

In 2020, the inaugural "Book of the Year" award was presented, the winner being Vinod Kumar Shukla's Blue is Like Blue, translated into English by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai.[10]

In the four days over which the 2020 edition of MBIFL was held, more than 6000 people attended the events.[11]

References
  1. "Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters: A feast for literature lovers". Mathrubhumi. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  2. "Mathrubhumi international festival of letters from Feb 2". India Today. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  3. "Mathrubhumi Intl Festival of Letters from Feb 2". United News Of India. 27 April 2019.
  4. "NAW Interview with Sabin Iqbal". New Asian Writing. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  5. Harsimran Gill, "Mathrubhumi Group Announces 'Book Of The Year' Literary Award", HuffPost (India), 17 October 2019.
  6. "Mathrubhumi institutes Rs 5 lakh 'Book Of The Year' award", Outlook, 17 October 2019.
  7. "Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters MBIFL 2020". Kerala Online. 2020.
  8. "350 speakers to take part in Mathrubhumi Festival of Letters". Outlook India. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  9. "Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters '20 unveils list of speakers". exchange4media. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. "Vinod Shukla bags first Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award". The Hindu. 2 February 2020.
  11. "Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters 2020 Ends on a High Note". News Experts. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
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