Thu, 28 Mar 2024 Today's Paper

Emirates sponsors popular authors to Galle Lit Fest

By

7 January 2011 06:02 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A A A


Authors Damon Galgut, Chimamanda Adichie and Karen Roberts

Two award-winning African writers and a popular Sri Lanka born novelist will be among the eminent authors participating in the 2011 Galle Literary Festival (GLF), thanks to Emirates, a fourth-time sponsor of this annual event.

South African Damon Galgut, Nigerian Chimamanda Adichie and Karen Roberts, now resident in California, have been provided with travel sponsorship to the festival by the award-winning Dubai-based international airline.

"Emirates is happy to support the Galle Literary Festival once again," said Chandana De Silva, the airline's Area Manager for Sri Lanka & Maldives. "The festival continues to gain in stature and has become a significant event on the country's events calendar. It has also helped to generate visibility for Sri Lanka among an important segment of international travellers -- writers and literature enthusiasts."
Popular authors sponsored by Emirates at previous editions of the Galle Literary Festival include Michelle de Kretser, Ru Freeman, Vasugi V Ganeshananthan and Germaine Greer.

An award-winning South African playwright and novelist who lives in Cape Town, Damon Galgut was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1963. He was only 17 when his debut novel, A Sinless Season, was published. His third book The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs (1991) won the CNA Prize, South Africa's leading literary award. The Quarry (1995) was made into a feature film, which went on to win prizes on the international film festival circuit. The Good Doctor published in 2003 and set in post-apartheid South Africa was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize in 2003 and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Best Book from the Africa Region. Galgut's newest novel, In a Strange Room, is shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for fiction.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977 and holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins and a Masters degree in African Studies from Yale. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. It was also short-listed for the Orange Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and long-listed for the Booker Prize. Her second novel Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is set before and during the Biafran War. It won the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Her latest book The Thing Around Your Neck (2009) is a collection of short stories and was shortlisted for the 2009 John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize.

Born and raised in Colombo, Karen Roberts worked in advertising in Colombo and Dubai, and now lives in California. Her first novel, Flower Boy, was published by Random House in 2000. Her second book July is set in Sri Lanka before and during the riots of July 1983. Roberts' latest novel The Lament of the Dhobi Woman was published in 2010. Her work addresses the various ethnic and class divisions of Sri Lanka, often through romantic relationships between characters from different sides of class or ethnic divides.

The fifth Galle Literary Festival takes place in the southern fortress city after which it is named, from 26th to 30th January 2011.

The winner of more than 400 major international awards, Emirates has served Sri Lanka since April 1986 and now operates 21 services a week between Colombo and Dubai, and daily flights to Singapore, making a total of 28 flights a week to and from the country.

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

  Comments - 0

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

Add comment

Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.

Reply To:

Name - Reply Comment





Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

VAT increase: SOUNDs death knell for publishers, readers

Though the Government imposed VAT (Value Added Tax) on vegetables and other e

How female change-makers are driving Sri Lanka’s energy saving platform

Saving energy has become more of a responsibility than a habit in today’s c

A dull Ramadan awaits Muslims amidst the Soaring Cost of Living

In the coming days, Muslims across the world will welcome the Holy Month of R

New wildlife underpass to curtail HEC

As of February 2024, Sri Lanka lost another 38 elephants as a result of the H