News
Revived Galle Literary Festival, Sri Lanka, draws record crowds
25th January 2016
Sri Lanka’s southern city of Galle, where the old Dutch fortress is classed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, revived its annual literary festival in January 2016 and drew record crowds. “Galle’s special appeal as a literary festival”, said David Lough, one of the festival’s authors, ‘is that both festival-goers and authors are gathered in each other’s company for several days, lapped by the sea on three sides and by a test match cricket ground on the fourth. The sun shines and the sea breeze blows. Nobody rushes away. The atmosphere is relaxed all day long – a delight.” David Lough spoke on the last day of the festival about his recently published book No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money.