Fest to provide forum for men, women of letters, intellectuals

CHANDIGARH: January 27: Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi in collaboration with the Panjab
University (PU) is organising “Chandigarh Festival of Letters 2011” on the university
campus from January 28 to 30.  It will be inaugurated on January 28 (Friday) at 10.00
am in the English auditorium.  

    Prof Manju Jaidka, Chairperson, Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi (CSA) informed that
the three day festival is a judicious mix of paper presentations, lectures, readings
and discussions with a quiz contest before the grand finale.  

       Prof Manju Jaidka said the attempt is to make this festival an annual
feature and a major landmark in the literary life of the city, providing a platform to
local talent and an opportunity for all to interact with visiting writers and critics.
The CSA is trying to discover and encourage new voices even as it acknowledges
established hands in literature. On a regular basis the Akademi has involved as many
different segments of society as possible. It has many firsts to its credit, the most
significant being this one, the Festival of Letters that will hopefully make
Chandigarh, the City Beautiful, a meeting ground for litterateurs, writers, critics
and intellectuals.

This particular Festival actually began a few days ago with creative writing
competitions being held in the city schools. Collaborating with DAV School Sector 8,
competitions for school-going children were held. With MCM DAV College, the CSA is
holding competitions for college students. Thus have different age groups are being
involved, school children, college and university students, young academics and
seasoned veterans in the literary world.  

Dr Karan Singh, MP Rajya Sabha and President, ICCR, who is a poet-prince-philosopher-
politician, writer and visionary, will deliver inaugural address on January 28. He has
authored a number of books, philosophical, political and historical in content. He is
also a creative writer whose works have been around for the last several decades.
Along with his prestigious appointments, he has also served as regent, Sadr-i-Riyasat
and governor of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.  He received the Padma Vibhushan in
2005. There will be a felicitation ceremony too, and awards of recognitions will be
conferred on select Chandigarh Writers (names not yet announced).

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof R.C. Sobti will address the gathering on the first day.
Madhu Kishwar, founder editor of Manushi, will deliver the keynote address on language
issues in India in a session chaired by Prof Alok Bhalla, an established man of
letters. There is a session of creative writing, with two upcoming novelists (Manjul
Bajaj and Amandeep Sandhu) who will present excerpts from their works along with Prof
Bhalla who will read his poems.  

The second day of the festival is devoted to the national language. This being the
centenary year of three stalwarts of Hindi writing, the CSA is celebrating the
achievements of Agyeya, Nagarjuna and Shamsher Bahadur. Two senior academics, Profs
Nand Kishore Acharya and Lal Chand Gupt Mangal, will speak on Agyeya and Nagarjuna;
this will be followed by paper presentations on the three big names by Archana Sharma
from Delhi, and Yojna Rawat with Sudhir Kumar from Panjab University.  

Literature of Punjab is not being neglected.  A session on the second day will mark
the launch of a book on Four Centuries of Sikh Literature by the eminent Prof J.S.
Grewal. The book is published by Oxford University Press, informed Prof Manju
Jaidka.  

The final day of the festival comprises a potpourri of diverse items – paper
presentations by a selection of young scholars of the university, an invited speaker
on gender issues in literature (Susan Comfort visiting from the US), another on the
intricacies of translation (Mariam Karim-Ahlawat from Delhi), and a talk on
Shakespeare by the very well-known and much respected Prof Rupin Desai from Delhi
University. The grand finale of the festival comes with a Literary Quiz that is open
to all.

The Festival will be over in three days but the work of the CSA will continue. It will
be business as usual. In a few days from now there will be a celebration of the birth
centenary of the legendary Faiz Ahmed Faiz in which a mix of scholars and poets will
lecture, read and recite from the poet’s work, informed Prof Manju Jaidka.

Press Release No.40
                                                 AK/PS