Tribute to Dickens and Manto

The English Literary Association (ELA), Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia organised a three-day Literary Festival recently to commemorate the bi-centenary of Charles Dickens and the centenary of Saadat Hassan Manto – called Pickwick Fest.

Students from Jamia as well as Delhi University celebrated the works of the world renowned great Victorian novelist, Charles Dickens and Urdu’s well-known and critically acclaimed Progressive Writer Manto through drama, graffiti, films and discussions.

It provided a forum for students from all across Delhi to come and display their skills as well as their expertise on Dickens and Manto by taking part in a plethora of these co-curricular events.

Saroj Kumar, Advisor ELA, hopes to carry on this fest in the years to come. “This us our tribute to two great writers of all time. We all have come together to showcase their works through artforms like drama and graffiti-making. We even showcased Oliver Twist, a film based on the novel of the same name by Dickens which followed by a discussion on the film itself.”

 The festival was a meeting point which brought together several scholars, authors, publishers, students and book lovers too. By placing Manto alongside English writer, Charles Dickens, this festival also aimed to make a political statement.

Many prominent names such as Namita Gokhale, Nilanjana Roy, Palash Krishna Mehrotra, Amandeep Sandhu and Sanjeev Agnihotri were a part of this extravaganza.