Out of Sri Lanka’s trials comes a beacon of hope
Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie
Robert McCrum /The Observer, Sunday 6 February 2011
Ever since the Hay festival set up shop overseas in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2006, literary festivals have been going global, like the English language. The marriage of international literary stars with local and expat audiences in exotic locations has inspired an unprecedented surge in book tourism, from Shanghai to Byron Bay, Australia. In Jaipur last month, for instance, you could bump into JM Coetzee, Richard Ford, Martin Amis and Candace Bushnell. With the export of festival UK, ambitious writers today are advised to carry a pen and a passport.
The brutal regime that crushed the Tamil insurgency is rightly charged with repressing, “disappearing” and allegedly killing journalists. So Galle was accused of collaborating with an enemy of free speech.
