Unpublished Manuscripts

The CSA invites city-based writers (working or residing in Chandigarh) to submit unpublished book-length manuscripts in Hindi, English, Punjabi or Urdu. Some funding is available for Grants-in-aid and the best entries would be given financial assistance for publication. 

The following categories will be considered:Poetry 

• Short Fiction
• Novel
• Play
• Children's Literature

Entries may be submitted at the Chd Sahitya Akademi office on the 1st floor of the State Library, Sector 34. Deadline for submission is August 30, 2013. Length of manuscripts: Novels / short stories: 30,000 words to 60,000 words Poetry: 70 - 90 pages Plays: 30 - 50 pages (printed / typed)

MAYTIME MEHFIL

Thank you to those who came!

Those who didn;t -- we missed you!

CSA

REPORT OF TODAY’S EVENT:

MAY-TIME MEHFIL: CREATIVITY AND MORE

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi today held yet another literary event at the UT Guest House. It was an impressive gathering of litterateurs, academicians and poetry enthusiasts. Intellectual exchange took place in a multi-lingual form, through different languages: some English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. In addition to three writers in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, there was a fourth invited guest, a scholar of Sanskrit who spoke in English about the language of computers. So, in all the event was one that brought together many languages, human as well as machine.

Narendra Mohan is a well-known writer who has written a lot of poetry and drama. He talked about his creative journey, punctuating the account with anecdotes and remembered incidents from the past. His presentation was highly appreciated as he read in his gentle sonorous voice. Tracing the graph of his experiences through the ages, he talked about the difficult times of his youth, the partition days and his personal traumas. A recurrent image in his work is that of a dancer. The writer, according to Mohan, is one who would like the world to understand the rhythms that move him and make him dance. Invariably, however, the music to which he sways remains unheard by others and the writer is left dancing solo.

Krishan Kumar Toor, another noted writer who practices his art in the Urdu language, talked about writing ghazals, a genre to which he has dedicated his entire life, and recited several of his compositions. Toor has won several awards for his writing and is the editor of an Urdu poetry journal. His poetry is remarkable for its simplicity directness. The Urdu that he uses is a mix of Hindustani, so it is easily comprehended. Interspersed with aphorisms, he regaled the audience with his wit and verse.

Gurtej Koharwala hails from Ferozepur where he teaches Punjabi in a local college. He is a young man who has been writing poetry for almost two decades now; he has made a niche for himself and his poems are invariably included in all anthologies of contemporary Punjabi poetry.  Letting the poetry speak for itself, Gurtej recited his poems to a riveted gathering. He writes poetry with a purpose and it seems to emerge straight from his heart, with no artifice.

The fourth speaker today was Girish Nath Jha, associate professor at the special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, JNU, Delhi, where he teaches Computational Linguistics. Girish has a Master’s degree in Natural Language Interface from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a PhD in Machine Translation, and has been a software engineer in the US for four years before joining JNU. He made a very powerful presentation on the use of Information Technology for the promotion of Language and Literature, making the audience aware of how the internet is being used and how software is being developed by his school for transliteration, so as to enable knowledge-sharing and transfer of information from one language to another. The subject is very new and there is a lot of scope for future development. Girish pointed out the road that literature is likely to take in the coming times.

Today’s event, with four different speakers using as many as seven different

languages, was greatly appreciated by all. From the effusive reactions of the audience, it was obvious, that Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi events are not only popular but also informative and much-awaited.

Chairperson Manju Jaidka, Vice-Chairman Anil Raina and Secretary Madhav Kaushik interacted freely with the audience, thanked everyone for the continued support and assured them that CSA would continue to hold literary events of a high order.

Link for pics will be uploaded on FB and Blog.

2  pics are attached herewith.

Chairperson, CSA

Round-Up 2013

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi held its Annual Round-Up 2013 this evening at the UT Guest House. Presiding over the event was Shri K.K. Sharma, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator. Several well-known personalities of the city were present on the occasion; the hall was packed to capacity and many people in the audience could not get sitting space. This is a measure of the success of CSA events in the city

The highlight of the evening was the annual report of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi presented by the Chairperson along with a slide show of events that were held through the year. A brochure was released to mark the event. This is the fifth Round-Up being held by the CSA and all five brochures covering events of the last five years were presented to the Adviser.  

On this occasion the the CSA also released books written by six city authors who were given a Grants-in-Aid by the Akademi. Ajay Singh Rana, Neena Kanaujia and Dinesh Chandra were given the award for poetry.Ratan Chand Ratnesh, Nirmal Jaswal and Subhash Sharma for short stories.

In addition, three city writers who have been awarded for their books in print (for 2012) read excerpts from their works. Vijay Kapoor read his poems while Nirmal Jaswal and Dr Gargi read from their short stories.

Another talk this evening was by  Rajnish Wattas who is a professor of architecture and has served as the Principal of the local College of Architecture.  Prof Wattas is a die-hard fan  of the noted writer R.K. Narayanwhose 12th death anniversary takes place in another two days, on May 13th. Wattas made a power-point presentation on the life and works of Narayan, sharing his passion for the creator of Malgudi and his deep involvement with the various characters that people this fictional world. 

Shri KK Sharma, the Adviser, who was accompanied by his wife, Mrs Ninette Sharma, in his concluding remarks, praised the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi for the excellent work being done in the field of literature and for making the city a vibrant hub of intellectual activity. He appreciated the work of Chairperson, Manju Jaidka, Vice-Chairperson Anil Raina, and Secretary Madhav Kaushik.

Photographs of this evening's event are being uploaded and the link will soon be available on CSA's Facebook page and Blog.

The next CSA event will be on 25th May at the UT Guest House.

Round-Up 2013

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi invites you to its
ANNUAL ROUND-UP 2013
Presided over by 
Shri K.K. Sharma, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator

on 11 May 2013at 3.45 PM 
at UT Guest House
Sector 6
Chandigarh

Highlights of the session:
Round-Up of 2012-13 by the Chairperson, CSA
Slide presentation on R.K. Narayan by Prof Rajnish Wattas
Interaction with select award-winning writers of the city
Join us, please!

Manju Jaidka
Chairperson, CSA

Award for URDU manuscript

CSA announces its Grant-in -Aid for UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT to the following writer in Urdu:

Mr Krishan Gautam
Congratulations. 
Once the book is published the grant money will be released.

Awards for Printed Books

AWARDS FOR PRINTED BOOKS :

Vijay Kapoor : "Pahad hi nahi hotey pahad" (poetry) 2012
Nirmal Jaswal: "rait ka Rishta"" (short story) 2012
Dr. Gargi: "Shubh Shuruat" (2011)

CSA would like to congratulate the winners.
The submissions of those who have not been awarded are also much appreciated.
The judges were very pleased with the quality of the work.
Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support.

Hasya Kavi Sammelan - a Report

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi has once again brought people together to appreciate poetry that cuts across all borders of age and class. Judging from the numbers thronging the Punjab Kala Bhavan, the Hasya Kavi Sammelan organized by CSA this evening was a great success. If Surendra Sharma, the cheif artist at today's event was a crowd-puller, the other members of his team were equally talented and their performance went down very well with the audience.

The programme began with Master Mahendra who began by poking fun at his own emaciated appearance and then proceeded to regale the audience with poem after poem recited in a strong Haryanvi accent. "Manney key laat khani hai?" ("Do I wish to be kicked in the butt?") had the audience in splits.

Ashok Swatantra was equally amusing, particularly with his poem on a bus-conductor's wedding which described how professional habits die hard; in this case, the bus-conductor of the poem takes his official duties to the wedding ceremony in a manner that he is less of a bridegroom and more of the bus-conductor he has always been!

Sita Sagar, who is a professor of Sanskrit, a poet of note and gifted with a melodious voice, won everybody's hearts with a long-winded rhythmic poem on Chandigarh which summed all the features of the City Beautiful.

Many of the poems recited this evening carried a social message. They focused on changing socio-cultural patterns, the loss of values, and the break-up of a familiar way of life. Baghi Chacha had a touching poem about a man's relationship with a son who grows up and leaves him and a tree that remains rooted in his courtyard.

Ash Karan Atal, poet from Bombay, had a different brand of humour as he compared himself with former PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (with whom he shares 1/3d of his name, as he put it).  He had the listeners floored as he recited "Highway ke Humdum". 

The grande finale came with the star artist, Surendra Sharma who held the gathering mesmerized for the rest of the evening.  Each line that he uttered was punctuated with a resounding applause from the audience as he, through gentle satire, and in the manner of Addison, enlivened morality with wit and tempered with with morality. Mr Sharma uses laughter as a tool for bringing about social reform.  According to him, what we need today is not religion but philanthropy. Known for his subtle and not-so-subtle jibes targeting the institution of marriage, Shri Surendra ji poked fun at men and women, not even sparing himself. Laughter,he believes, is the best medicine and can work wonders in bringing normalcy back to a fragmented world.

Today's session of laughter and verse was appreciated by the audience that clamoured for more.  CSA  will continue to hold events for the city and looks forward to bringing people together again in its forthcoming events.

Stay tuned for more.