KATHA GOSHTHI 4 AUG 2012

CHANDIGARH SAH ITYA AKADEMI ORGANIZES KATHA GOSHTHI 4TH August 2012 Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi today organized a Katha Goshthi. Three local writers were invited to read their short fiction and interact with the audience. Subhash Sharma, who retired as a senior audit officer, is a well-known Punjabi short story writer who has published three anthologies of fiction, “Plot Mil Gaya,” “Mallah” and “Ashtiyaan”. He has earlier received an award from the NZCC for his creative writing. He read a story entitled “Bhatti” which effectively recreated a rural scene from the interior of Punjab, showing the changes that take place with the passage of time. Rajinder Kanaujia is a medical doctor by profession. He has published more than half a dozen books of poetry and prose in Hindi. His stories have been published in various leading national journals. He has also been awarded a publication subsidy by the National Sahitya Akademi as well as the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi. His stories and short plays have been broadcast over the Doordarshan and Akashvani. His story entitled “Jantar Mantar” was well-appreciated by the audience. Based on a very contemporary theme, using irony and a subtle humour, it spoke of the movement spear-headed by Anna Hazare. Renu Behl writes in Urdu and her work has received a lot of appreciation. The Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi recently gave her an award for her unpublished manuscript which has since then been published. Earlier she has published four collections of short stories, two of which have been awarded by the UP Urdu Akademi. The story she read today was called “Kabza”. Today’s event was a continuation of the monthly goshthis that the CSA has been holdin in order to promote literature and creativity in the city. The event was ably compered by Shri Madhav Kaushik. The Chairperson of CSA, Manju Jaidka, invited more such writers from the city to come forward and share their writings with fellow writers.