While book exhibitions offer experiences for the readers to physically look at books, browse and purchase, the literary festival acts as a perfect platform for the conglomeration of literary minds, to cross-pollinate their ideas and, importantly, prepares readers for today and tomorrow.
Our present education system is examination and marks-focused. We cannot straightaway condemn and discount the system. For a thickly-populated country like us, time and again it has proved to be a convenient and foolproof method to evaluate and select students for admission into academic institutions. We are living in a world, where even a fraction of a difference in marks would alter the fortune of a student’s educational aspirations. Hence it is an axiomatic fact that students are driven by marks. On the other hand, a society cannot thrive and prosper without knowledgeable and creative people. In a paradoxical situation like this, it is obvious that literary festivals play an important role in preparing and shaping young minds for the future.
The objective of the annual Chennai Literary Festival is to enable people to experience the pleasure of reading and adding value to their lives. Keeping this as an objective, the Chennai Literary Association was formed by a few like-minded people in 2012. The Department of English, University of Madras was requested to join as a knowledge partner and it had graciously obliged. This helped CLA to rope in constituent colleges of the University of Madras to join as technical partners. The first festival was conducted in January 2013, and inaugurated by the then Governor of Tamil Nadu K Rosaiah.
The format of the Chennai Literary Festival, over the years, adapted to the changing situations and metamorphosed into the present form. Pre-festival events are conducted at a single venue (a centrally-located college easily accessible to all students) where many literary events are held on a single day. This event is open to all college students to compete and exhibit their skills. It is a unique event in many spheres; it is the only literary event where thousands of college students participate and exhibit their literary skills.
The second important initiative was to conduct half-day of literary workshops in parallel at various colleges, open to all literary enthusiasts. The topics are chosen by the college faculties and a team of experts in the CLA. The workshops are another unique concept of the Chennai Literary Festival. Over the years, they have become extremely popular and proved to be a purposeful activity to hone one’s literary skills. Over the last eight festivals (it was suspended for two years due to Covid) several thousand participants attended and benefited.
The inauguration and valedictory were conducted separately and prizes and certificates were distributed. In addition to these, an oratory competition, skit, dance, and other cultural events are conducted alongside. It is heartening that students’ response to all these editions was significant and noteworthy, especially in the scenario of today’s world dominated by electronic media.
Tamil Nadu has always been a forerunner in literary activities across the country. The state can take pride in organising the most book exhibitions in the country. Further, it is host to the first-ever International Book Fair happening in January 2023.
Similarly, TN is gearing up for a bigger, bolder, and better Chennai Litfest also in January 2023. This would undoubtedly set a new trend in the Tamil literary world both domestically and internationally. The Chennai Literary Association is officially partnering to extend its support and cooperation as a knowledge and technical partner to make the Chennai Litfest, for the first time being organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu, a grand success.
Driven by marks
We live in a world where even a fraction of a difference in marks would alter the fortune of a student. Hence, it is an axiomatic fact that students are driven by marks
G Olivannan, Founder President, Chennai Literary Association