Kerala Literature Festival – DC Kizhakemuri Foundation
To commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of D C Kizakemuri, the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation launched the Kerala Literature Festival in 2016 at the beach in Kozhikode.
Dominic Chacko Kizhakemuri was born on 12 January 1914 Kanjirappally in Kottayam and died on 26 January 1999. DC Kizhakemuri was a social activist and freedom fighter who was incarcerated for his beliefs, started his career as a teacher. His passion for reading ad teaching made him herald many unique roles in a lifetime, even founding the one of the largest publishing houses in the country “DC Books” in the year 1974. He played a pivotal role in abolishing sales tax on books in the erstwhile state of Travancore. This move influenced Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to abolish sales tax on books across India.
A man of the masses, DC Kizhakemuri was the first columnist in Malayalam. DC’s sparkling wit and sheer brilliance went beyond his skills as a writer. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in the year 1999. Kerala literature Festival is today one of the largest such festivals held in the country.
The special cover released on ( 06-10-2016, KL18/2006),occasion of Kottayampex 2016 features a graphic image of a sail boat created out newsprint in Malayalam, the Kerala Literature Festival logo and the logo of DC K Foundation. The special pictorial cancellation is a graphic of the letters KLF.