Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi is holding a Summer Bonanza at the UT Guest House. Sessions spread over two days include a panel discussion, creativity sessions, meet-the-author events, a commemorative session on Shiv Batalvi to mark his death anniversary, and the annual round-up of the CSA
Today's events began with a session devoted to Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Dr Yograj Angrish, who teaches Punjabi at the Panjab University, spoke on the contribution of the talented poet to Panjabi literature. the session was chaired by Shri CR Maudgil who has headed the Punjabi Sahitya Akademi of Haryana. The audience took an active part in the discussion that followed, with several people reminiscing their personal experiences with Batalvi.
In another session, the Oriya writer, JP Das, who has had an illustrious career and received several notable awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, spoke of his works -- poetry, plays, fiction and translation -- in conversation with the Academic and critic GK Das.
Vishvjit Singh, who hails from the royal family of Kapurthala and has been a member of the Indian parliament, is also a sensitive writer and has recently published his Hindi poetry, "Kuchh Shabd Kuchh Lakeerein". He was in conversation with Nirupama Dutt in a Face-to-Face session. Raj Chengappa, Editor in Chief of The Tribune, chaired the session.
The final session of the day unfolded creativity and brought together invited and local writers who made brief presentations of their writing. Harish Narang and Alok Bhalla, better known for their critical and academic work, are also skilled translators and creative writers. While Narang read a short story, Bhalla read some powerful poems based on his experience of Jerusalem. Other poets who read their poems in the session included Vijay Kapoor, Roshan Sharma, Gurpreet Kaur, Geetanjali Bhagat, Aradhika Sharma, and Reenu Talwar.
On the second day of the Bonanza, i.e., the 8th of May, the noted writer Manju Kapur will be in conversation with Aradhika Sharma. There will be a panel discussion on Literature in a Globalized Context. This will be followed by the grand finale of the Bonanza, the Annual Round-Up of the CSA's activities in 2010-2011.
Photos of the event: https://picasaweb.google.com/sahitakad2008/SummerBonanza1?authkey=Gv1sRgCMWDv-2Snof6-QE#
