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JLF Soneva Fushi Celebrates Literature, Music and Culture in Male’

JLF Soneva Fushi held a special festival day in Male’ yesterday, bringing literature, music and culture to the capital city of the Maldives. The event was held at Salt Café in Male’ yesterday with participation from Speaker of Parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed, world renowned authors Shobhaa De and Marcus du Sautoy. Prominent local architect and academic, Mauroof Jameel; illustrator and author Zaahie Saeed; and comic writer and expert Ahmed Mauroof Jameel also spoke and participated at the event.

JLF Soneva Fushi Male’ saw live Q&As with the guest speakers and book signings.

Shobhaa De is one of India’s best known novelists, whose most famous work focuses on fictional depictions of the colourful lives of Indian socialites and high society figures. Her session at the festival day was entitled ‘Fiction, Faction and the Spaces in Between’, where she discussed the many spaces she inhabits as writer.

Marcus du Sautoy is a mathematician extraordinaire and author of the books, Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut and The Creativity Code: How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think, in which he studies the nature of creativity, algorithms and how engineers track emotional responses to art. In his session entitled ‘AI and Creativity’ he discussed AI, intuition, the creative process and its connection to mathematics.

The event featured local musicians, Igyan Rafeeu, Shamoon Mohamed and Ahnaf Ibrahim. These artists were curated by Fannuge Dharin (Talent Gathering), a local organisation that provides a platform for Maldivian artists to meet, share and inspire.

The world-famous JLF is holding a 10-day festival at Soneva Fushi in Baa atoll from May 13-22. Soneva Fushi is hosting the one-day event in Male’ as part of its outreach programme, to provide an opportunity for Maldivians in the Greater Male Area to enjoy some of the festival’s world-class cultural programming.

 

For more information regarding the festival, including the full event programme, please see: https://soneva.com/soneva-fushi-jlf/