With one of the longest continuous literary traditions in Europe, Wales is a
distinctive and culturally rich part of the United Kingdom that is yet to be
fully discovered by many, especially in India. The Welsh, being extremely
proud of their heritage, have conscientiously revived and reinvented their
traditional customs, especially those relating to language, poetry, literature
and music, and have embraced cultural multilingualism that connects them
to the rest of Europe.
Guest Nation Wales at the Kerala Literature Festival 2019 offers audiences a
taste of the contemporary legacy of one of Europe’s oldest cultural traditions.
Featuring leading authors and the innovative Invertigo Theatre Company
with their show My Body Welsh, the Guest Nation Wales programme will also
include a day dedicated to screenings of Welsh films related to literature,
and an event with poets from Kerala, Wales and other European countries.
“I’m delighted that Wales is Guest Nation at the Kerala Literature Festival. Our
nation will be represented at the Kerala Literature Festival by some of our
most prominent writers and they will be excellent ambassadors for Welsh
culture. We’re pleased too that the festival audiences will also have an
opportunity to discover Wales through theatre and film – and the selected
titles draw on our rich poetry and literary tradition, both contemporary and
historical. Both Literature Across Frontiers and Wales Literature Exchange
have been working in partnership with Indian literary organizations for ten
years now, with the support of Wales Arts International, the Arts Council of
Wales, the British Council and the European Union’s Culture and Creative
Europe Programmes. Wales is an internationalist, outward looking nation and
our continued cultural exchange with India is an important aspect of our
international strategy."
Lord Elis-Thomas, Deputy Minister for Culture,
Tourism and Sport
Welsh Government