JOIN USLitterateurs and artistes come together
Sahitya Akademi’s annual Sahityotsav, also called ‘Festival of Letters,’ was celebrated on a grand scale recently with at least 50 sessions and performances spread over five days and four venues in the Capital.
Sahityotsav’s previous editions were much smaller in scale. The events included a photo exhibition, writers’ meets, young poets’ sessions, Spin-a-tale etc. besides the traditional Sahitya Akademi award presentation.
To make matters more interesting, the literary body themed the festival ‘The relationship between Literature and other art forms’ this time. As a part of this, eminent artistes from the fields of cinema, media, music, dance, painting etc. delivered lectures and cultural performances at Meghdoot theatre, Kamani auditorium, the Sahitya Akademi House and Rabindra Bhavan.
Sahityotsav is the most inclusive literary festival of India which represents all 24 major and minor languages the country has. Secretary of the Akademi, Dr Sreenivasarao informs us, “Till now, we had been holding Sahityotsav on a smaller extent, but seeing the public’s enthusiasm towards reading these days, we felt it must be organized in a bigger way.”
“We also made a serious attempt at reaching out to youngsters this time. Earlier,
it was felt that only those above 40 could lead a session in the fest. However, this time, we invited young writers to pilot events such as Spin-a-Tale, Young Poet’s Meet, Poetry on Canvas etc.. We also reached out to young bookworms through Facebook.”
On the first day, a photo exhibition was launched showcasing the achievements of the Akademi. In the evening, the Sahitya Akademi awards - the highest literary recognition accorded by the Indian government - were presented. This time 12 eminent Indian poets received awards for their poetry collections and six short story writers and four novelists were honoured.
Day two of the fest was titled Writers’ Meet wherein the award receivers shared their experiences of work and creative journey. Besides the annual Samvatsar lecture was delivered by eminent Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade. He spoke on ‘How much space does an Indian Writer Need? Literary Standards - Native, Western, Global.’
Day three was devoted to kids with Spin-A-Tale - a day long programme on children’s literature, storytelling, creative writing, illustration making workshops and a panel discussion on ‘Are Teenage Issues Adequately Addressed in Indian Fiction?’
Taking the theme of the fest forward, a session on ‘The literary as Performance’ was participated in by authors Keki N. Daruwalla, Sumanyu Satpathy, Sarnath Bannerjee etc.. The second session on ‘Literature and cinema’ was addressed by Urdu scholar Gopi Chand Narang, Tamil writer Sa Kandawamy and film scholar Dr Kiranmayi
Indraganti.
On day four, there was a session on ‘Literature and Media’ addressed by eminent laureate Adoor Gopalakrishnan, DG Doordarshan Tripurari Sharan, Rakhshanda Jalil etc.. In the evening, Madan Gopal Singh performed Sufi Music under the title ‘Poetry as Music.’
The concluding day of the fest was marked by sessions ‘Literature and Theatre’ by Amal Allana, Bhanu Bharati, HS Shivaprakash etc.; ‘Literature, Painting, Music, Dance and The Question of Aesthetics’ by Namwar Singh; and ‘Literature and dance’ – a Bharatanatyam performance by Rama Vaidyanathan.
President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and Nand Kishore Acharya gave the vote of thanks saying, “Every art has its limitations at one point, except literature and this is the reason why literature is immortal. Sahitya Akademi is committed to create and nurture a literary environment for children and adults both, so that our
various literatures remain immortal.”