CHANDIGARH SAHITYA AKADEMI today organized a Writers Goshti bringing together city poets and writers of short fiction who compose in English. This is the first time the Akademi has brought together creative writers in English. Earlier Goshtis have focused on writers from Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
City residents who write in English are generally shy of coming into the limelight with their compositions.
This evening, however, the CSA provided a forum to ten such creative writers at the CSA auditorium in the State Library of Sector 34. A short but sweet program saw the recitation of poems on diverse subjects ranging from spirituality to worldliness, from divinity to humanity, from serious and somber poetry to the satirical. Those who read their poems / short stories included Vandana Shukla, a well-known name in art and literary circles of Chandigarh, and SS Bhatti who is an architect-poet. Jasbir Soin who is a member of the present CSA, read her poems along with Maninder Bains, Lalita Jagmohan, Nidheesh Tyagi, Renee Singh and Chander Bhargava. Suneeta Pattanayak, who teaches in DAV College, Chandigarh, read a short prose piece, as did Suparna Puri. Chairperson of the Akademi, Manju Jaidka, presented a humorous poem on cyber love.
The CSA will hold its next event on 27th March, in the UT Guest House, during the Heritage Festival of Chandigarh Administration. Details will be announced over its Blog and Facebook.
It may also be mentioned that the CSA has invited submission of printed books for Publication Awards. Writers residing or working in Chandigarh may submit printed books in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, or English (Poetry, Fiction, Plays) published in 2009 or 2010 to the CSA office. Details are available on Facebook and Blog. Deadline for submissions is 15th of March 2011.
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