When we think of Kozhikode, we think of music, football, and food. You could add to that list, literature.

Within a couple of years, the city has made Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) a roaring success. Nearly 1.5 lakh people attended the festival last year and they were treated to some memorable speeches and lively debates, featuring writers and intellectuals of national and international repute.

The third edition of the KLF, which opens on the Kozhikode Beach on Thursday, promises to be an even bigger event. More than 500 writers will assemble here for the four-day event. They will take part in 180 sessions in different venues set up on the beach.

A host of topics

The topics of those sessions are limited not just to literature. Discussions on politics, history, cinema, economics, religion, media, and society too would be held.

In fact, two of the biggest names at the festival are from outside literature — Noam Chomsky and Romila Thapar.

Eighty-nine-year-old Chomsky, one of the most-quoted scholars of all time who has made original contributions to different fields like linguistics and cognitive science, however, will be speaking through videoconferencing from his base in the United States.

His interview, by Planning Board vice chairman and economist V.K. Ramachandran, is slated for February 10. The topic for discussion is ‘dissent.’

‘No democracy without dissent’ is the theme of this edition of the festival.

Some of the prominent dissenting voices in the country at the moment, such as writers Arundhati Roy and K.S. Bhagawan, social activist Teesta Setalvad, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, and actor Prakash Raj, would be heard at the festival.

Besides leading authors from different Indian languages and English, such as Perumal Murugan, Anita Nair, and Shobhaa De, most of the leading authors in Malayalam, including M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Anand, T. Padmanabhan, M. Mukundan, K. Satchidanandan, Balachandran Chullikad, C.V. Balakrishnan, and K.R. Meera will attend.

A group of Irish writers has also been lined up for the festival.

Veteran journalists T.J.S. George, Sashi Kumar, B.R.P. Bhaskar, and Rajdeep Sardesai, director Mahesh Bhatt, and actors Rishi Kapoor, Revathy, and Padmapriya too would take part in various sessions.

A film festival, curated by Bina Paul, is among the sidelights of the event.

Festivals of music and food too will ensure that Kozhikode and the rest of Malabar have much to look forward to.