The historic Dutch Fort in Galle which UNESCO has designated as a world heritage site was once again the focus of the English Literary world when it hosted the second festival of writing in English held in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan born Shayam Selvadurai who now resides in Canada was clearly the most popular author at the festival drawing standing room only crowds at every event in which he participated easily surpassing even the giant of American literature Gore Vidal.

Selvadurai spoke candidly about his homosexuality, the day to day life of a creative writer, his practice of meditation for thirty minutes every day, and how Canada's liberal immigration policies have changed the face of its major cities. "Most times my partner Andrew is the only white person in the bus when we travel to the Toronto suburb where my parents live" said Selvadurai. He also observed that inter-ethnic and inter-racial couples were so common in his adopted city of Toronto that they are now almost the norm rather than the exception.

Selvadurai explained why in a recent article he wrote for Toronto Life magazine he uses his first attempt at making the "ultimate Sri Lankan feast" of Lamprais to explain emigrants' longing for their country of origin.

In his search for the "authentic" Lamparis recipe, Selvadurai spent much time contacting relatives and friends across the world, reading all available cookery books and conducting research on the internet. Selvadurai hilariously recalled how at the beginning of his research he was sure that a boiled egg was an essential ingredient only to be told by relatives in Australia and friends in England that no self respecting Burgher cook would countenance such heresy. Selvadurai became frantic when his Aunt Bunny in Toronto was not able to recall whether cook book writer Anita Dickman was correct when she wrote that no vegetable, not even the mouth watering "Brinjal Pahi" should be included in a Lamprais.

Just hours before the guests arrived for his forty fifth birthday and as he started to assemble the Lamprais, Selvadurai realized that the fierce debate over what constituted an "authentic" Lamprais was nothing but the pain of homesickness. The reason that authenticity matters according to Selvadurai is that his and other emigrants' sense of being Sri Lankan is fixed in a particular moment - the point of leaving, and they cannot bear to think of Sri Lanka changing. "We want Sri Lanka, like our Lamprais, fixed in a moment in time, not as a culture really is, eternally fluid".

Selvdurai who also teaches creative writing at York University in Toronto encouraged aspiring writers that even though "everything you want to write has been written before" they is always a new way to tell the same story and so new writers should not be afraid to do so. " I am awed by the graciousness of people in Sri Lanka and their remarkable stoicism and I don't think of ever leaving Sri Lanka behind" he concluded.

Gore Vidal cancelled all media interviews as he was extremely upset that two journalists representing the media sponsors of the festival who interviewed him prior to the official launch of the festival knew nothing about his epic writing that spans 60 years. At the urging of festival founder Geoffrey Dobbs, Vidal however, relented and agreed to an exclusive interview with The Anchorman after the close of the festival. On the breezy terrace of the Lighthouse Hotel In Galle this iconic man of letters downed three scotch whiskeys in less than 90 minutes in the middle of the afternoon while opining on topics as diverse as the decline of the American Empire, media corruption, and the future of the novel.

Vidal's explanation as to why he was able to predict as early as 2002 that George Bush junior would be regarded as the worst president of the United States was "because I know more about American history and American politics than anyone around" seems as arrogant as the president he was condemning.

Calling President Bush an "idiot" who has subverted American democracy and the U.S. Constitution, Vidal derided as "bullshit" the U.S. President's oft repeated justification for the invasion of Iraq that if the terrorists were not defeated in Iraq the Americans would have to fight the same terrorists on American soil,

Even when paying the ultimate compliment to festival attendees, Vidal's was once again the epitome of hubris he detests in others, insisting that "people who came (to the festival) absolutely had my number. They knew what I was going to talk about; they know what I thought, and you could not ever have that without having read me. Everyone who matters knows who I am. I am the most famous living writer".

According to Vidal a "corrupt media controlled by major corporations" that refuses to report the fact that "every word Bush says is a lie" along with "the worst public education system of any first world country" are some of the major reasons for the disintegration of the American republic.

Vidal supports the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq noting that "something like eighty percent of Americans wants us out of there" and that the first credible candidate for the American presidency who unambiguously takes such a position would win the election in November 2008. "Get out (of Iraq), we don't belong there, we are not an imperial nation, we don't need new territories, even oil we don't need" admonished Vidal. Acknowledging that Dennis Kucynich whom he supports as the Democratic Party candidate has no chance of becoming the party's nominee, Vidal predicted that not only will Senator Hilary Clinton be the democratic party's nominee but also that she will go on to win the November presidential election as she and Bill Clinton are a formidable pair who are impossible to beat.

The festival did have its drawbacks. Compared to the inaugural festival which drew people with a strong interest in literature, the 2008 event attracted a large number of Colombo socialites who did not appear to have read a book in many years, and seemed to be more interested in chatting loudly on their cell phones and or ensuring that their pictures would published in the fashion press.

Kym MacCall who by accident attended the 2007 festival came especially for the festival way from Calgary, Alberta, was incensed that the William Dalrymple the featured speaker at a $50.00 gala dinner was not only drunk but also arrived ninety minutes late. The meal consisted of an ordinary beef stew and two postage stamp sized pieces of corn bread with a two square inch chocolate brownie for dessert.

Dalrymple was also late for another event and disgusted the audience by constantly playing with his bare toes and rudely interrupting other guests on the panel. In addition, his presentation on The Last Mughal of British India was a boring repetition of the presentation he made in 2007.

Shevanthie Goonesekera of London was, however, effusive with her praises for the festival. "I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with a wealth of Sri Lankan and international writers; it was a simply wonderful experience" she enthused.

One of the highlight of the festival was the launch by Indran Amirthanayagam of The Splintered Face a book of poems written after the 2004 Tsunami. Amirthanyagam is a senior American diplomat who is currently posted to Vancouver, Canada. His father was the assistant government agent whose office was in the Galle Fort during the anti-Tamil pogroms of 1958. Mr. Amirthanayagam, senior, was fortunately spirited away by Sinhala colleagues when a Sinhala mob tried to kill him.

The role of arts and language in helping to understand and resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, and in dealing with climate change, was addressed at many levels. Following the screening of Sam de Silva's film Circles of Violence Television personality Shamini Boyle led an interesting discussion on the role of the artist in dealing with current issues.

Frayed tempers and raised voices kept guests on the edge of their seats as Niloufer de Mel, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Parakaisothy Sarvanamuttu, Jean Arasanayagam and Rajiva Wijesinghe argued whether and how language could provide a bridge to peace in Sri Lanka. Wijesinghe as the secretay general of SCOP is the government's point man on achieving peace in Sri Lanka. Therefore, his obliviousness to the violence he introduced to the panel discussion by insisting on referring to the LTTE only as "terrorists" is to the say the least, ironic.

Whale Dreamers an award winning film co-produced by Julian Lennon, the son of the late John Lennon of Beatles fame, contends that the resumption of commercial whaling despite the still endangered status of whales was emblematic of the world's refusal to deal seriously with urgent environmental concerns as well as its disregard of aboriginal peoples and the role their societies have historically had in the stewardship of the earth.

A panel consisting of an environmentalist, a tour operator, an avid tourist and a business entrepreneur discussed the challenge of reconciling the tensions between tourism, economic development, and environmental degradation.

The Galle Literary Festival would have been found to be significantly wanting without the wit, wisdom, modesty, grace, cerebral and scholarly contributions of Punyakante Wijenaike, Yasmin Gooneratne, Jean Arasanayagam and Vijita Fernando, the female pioneers of English writing in Sri Lanka who have collectively written over 50 books of prose and poetry.

According to Gooneratne being a writer has permitted her to be "doing what I passionately want to do". Arasanayagam claimed that though she is "poverty stricken", being a writer is "one of the most exciting things that have happened to me". Wijenaike took to writing as a very young child because she was too shy to verbally communicate even with her parents and instead would write notes to them about her needs and desires. Her discerning father one day said to her "why don't you start writing", and Wijenaike has not stopped since!



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Viresh Fernando is a Toronto lawyer, festival addict, and dabbler in the arts. He can be reached at viresh@vireshlaw.com