Kozhikode: Prominent writer MT Vasudevan Nair released the logo of Hortus-2024, Malayala Manorama’s cultural festival that gets underway here on Kerala formation day. The event will be another feather in the cap of Kozhikode, India’s first UNESCO city of literature, Nair, fondly known by his initials MT, said. He recalled that the city had come a long way from a place where people had to search for libraries to get books to one with several libraries.
“I am happy that Manorama is holding a cultural festival in Kozhikode. The new generation should actively participate in the fest. They should have — and foster — interest in books and reading. They should have fresh turning points in life,” MT told the children who received the logo.
The towering literary personality also invited school students SP Parvana, V Anandai, Eden Saji, Mishal Mohammad, Saindhav Nair, and S Ankit to his personal library in his apartment. The logo took inspiration from Hortus Malabaricus, the famous 17th-century botany book published in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The Latin phrase Hortus Malabaricus means the Garden of Malabar. Kerala was then known as Malabar. The book, published in 12 volumes in Latin, carried the names of the flora in Malayalam. The book is also credited for printing the Malayalam language for the first time. It thus became one of the fundamental documents of Malayalam language and culture.
Hendrik van Rheede, the Governor of Dutch Malabar, prepared Hortus Malabaricus. Itty Achuthan Vaidyan helped Rheede in collecting information for the book.