An inspiring company of international and Sri Lankan writers will gather with festival-goers from all over the world at the Galle Literary Festival, which runs from January 28 – February 01 2009, in and around the world heritage site of Galle Fort, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

Named ‘No.1 Literary Festival in the world’ by Harpers Bazaar in its debut year, the event is characterised by it’s intimate setting within the walls of the maritime Fort and the chance for festival-goers to interact with writers at close quarters.

Sri Lanka is beating the Tigers through military force, not negotiation. 

From today's Wall Street Journal Asia 

For all those who argue that there's no military solution for terrorism, we have two words: Sri Lanka. 

This week, the Sri Lankan army said it had captured the last piece of the northern Jaffna Peninsula, one of the few remaining strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist organization that has waged a 26-year civil war that's claimed tens of thousands of lives, including those of a Sri Lankan President and an Indian Prime Minister.

While LTTE propaganda constantly drones on about the supposed repression of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government, the world occasionally catches a glimpse of reality. And it is very different. The fact is that the Sri Lankan government is working hard to provide the basic needs of all its citizens, particularly those affected by the fighting in the Vanni, and the LTTE is doing everything possible to deprive them of their basic rights.

A particularly telling story was reported this week. Civilians who sought refuge with the Sri Lankan Army at Paranthan in the Kilinochchi district on Saturday told officials that LTTE cadres had fired at them as they were trying to escape, killing five adults and two children. Forty-nine civilians, including two men with gunshot injuries, reached the frontline.