Reading culture shaped Kerala’s humanism and secularism: K. Jayakumar

Author, poet, and lyricist K. Jayakumar has said that Kerala owes its defining identity of humanism and secularism to its rich book-reading culture.

He was speaking after inaugurating ‘Tarangam – Ezhuthum Vaayanayum’, a monthly event jointly organized by the P.N. Panicker Foundation, Kollam District Administration, and the General Education Department at V Park, Kollam, aimed at preserving the reading tradition across generations.

Emphasizing the transformative power of literature, Jayakumar observed that writing finds its true purpose only when it is read. “Reading is essential for understanding life and the era one lives in. The medium does not matter as long as the quality of reading remains high,” he said. Presiding over the function, District Collector Anie Jula Thomas said that the future and hope of the country rest upon a generation that understands the depth of knowledge.