Biju Viswanath

Today's Talk on "Popularizing Literature through Cinema" by Biju Viswanath.

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi this evening organized a talk on "Popularizing Literature through Cinema" by award-winning film-maker, Biju Viswanath who hails from Kerala but has his base in New York.

Biju has a literature background. He did his masters in English literature, has a PhD from the University of Kerala, and is passionate about films as an art form. It is this passion that made him give up a teaching career and take up the camera. Combining his love for literature with his passion for cinema, he has been making documentaries and feature films for almost the last two decades. His range is impressive: he has dabbled across conventional genres with horror films, romance, mystery and drama. Nor is language any barrier for him for he has made films in Malayalam, Tamil, Irish, Japanese, and of course, English. 

His directorial debut, A Voyage, was based on the life of the well-known writer and Jnanpith awardee, MT Vasudevan Nair. The film brought Biju accolades and was the beginning of several honours that came his way. Among other honours, Biju is also the recipient of the Golden Palm Award for his film Viola and Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay for Marathon. 

In his talk today he highlighted the various issues involved in adaptation, focusing on the roles of the director , the script writer and the original author of a text.  Ultimately, he is convinced that the aim of a film is to reach out to the masses. Unless this is achieved the film cannot be called a success. Marketing a film is a major concern in today's world and a film must keep in mind what will sell.

This evening's talk was very thought-provoking and the session turned out to be a very interactive one with a lot of questions directed at the speaker. The Chairperson of the Akademi, who had earlier introduced the speaker, brought the discussion to an end, summing up th general opinion that it had been a scintillating evening.

Further, it was announced that the next CSA event would be a Hasya Kavi Sammelan to be held on 30th of March. Details would be announced on CSA Blog and Facebook.

Pictures of today's talk will be available on the Facebook page of CSA. http://www.facebook.com/chandigarhsahitya.akademi?ref=tn_tnmn 

Talk by Biju Viswanath

ON SATURDAY, 2ND MARCH 2013, 3.30 pm:


Award Winning film maker, Biju Viswanath will give a talk on "Popularizing Literature through Cinema".

Mr Viswanath spends much of the year in New York City. He has made several short documentary films that have been highly appreciated by critics. In particular, his film on the noted writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair in noteworthy.


YOU ARE INVITED to the talk which will be held at the UT Guest House on 2nd March at 3.30 pm.

Quiz

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi today organized a Literary Quiz on World Literature at Panjab University. The Quiz was open to the public. It was conducted by Anil Raina, Vice-Chairman of CSA. About 45 participants in fifteen teams competed for the top prizes. Four teams were shortlisted in the preliminary round and these took part in the final competition.
Prof RW Desai and Mrs Jyoti Desai, visiting from Delhi University, gave away the prizes and also certificates to student volunteers who have been supporting the CSA in its various activities through the year.

Winners of the Quiz:Aditi & Nishtha (First); Harsh and Manoj Tiwari (Second); Manjot Kaur & Tajinder Singh (third)

Festival and Conference 2013

4^th CHANDIGARH FESTIVAL OF LETTERS

&

12^TH MELOW CONFERENCE

8-10 FEB 2013

CHANDIGARH SAHITYA AKADEMI has, over the last five years, tried to make an impact in the city. Regular Literary Programs have been held – poetry symposia, meet-the-writer sessions, book launches, readings, seminars and invited lectures. Publication work has been going on out like never before. Awards have been instituted for senior writers of the city. Competitions are held for youngsters. There is no doubt that CSA is now a has an unignorable presence in Chandigarh. It is on Facebook and blog, thus keeping its members informed of its activities.

This Festival of Letters began four years ago in the city as an annual three-day event in which we invite selected writers from other parts of the country to interact with our audience. Whereas this event takes place early in the year, we continue with such activity the rest of the year, too, with at least two major events taking place every month. In the past few years we have had distinguished poets, playwrights and novelists participating in our events. We cater to the interests of all age groups, the senior citizens, the middle rung, as well as young students, involving them in diverse activities.

In the present Festival of Letters there are sessions with invited speakers who will present their works and interact with the audience. There are two sessions devoted to the annual awards for 2012: in the inaugural session we present awards of recognition to senior writers and in the concluding session there are prizes for students who have been participating in competitions organized by the Akademi.

MELOW, or the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World began in 1998 as MELUS-India, the India Chapter of MELUS, a US body devoted to the study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US. MELUS-India comprised a group of scholars interested in American Literature. Within a few years the organization broadened its scope and extended its concerns into World Literatures. At present it has a membership of approximately 300 from universities across the country. This is an association governed by representatives from all over India. It also has an International advisory body. The aim is to establish a global network of scholars engaged in common pursuits.  MELOW believes in academic grooming, initiating younger scholars into serious research work, writing proposals and papers, competing for awards of excellence. It has a blog and a google group so the members stay connected.

The  Society is serious about its work; it works according to deadlines. Over the years it has established a certain credibility in the country and abroad. So far it has held eleven international conferences. Whenever its conference is held in Chandigarh the Panjab University has very generously extended its support. This is the twelfth international conference. On this occasion we have about 150 delegates including about 15 from outside India. There will be more than 100 paper-presenters in parallel sessions, over a span of three days.

Prof Cheryl Johnson from the University of Ohio at Miami will deliver the keynote address and Prof Sushila Singh, President of the Society, will deliver the special Isaac Sequeira Memorial lecture in a session that awards the a prize for the best paper presented by a young scholar (below 40).

The three-day event is being jointly organized by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi and the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World in collaboration with the Panjab University. An Organizing Committee of 12 members from various departments is overseeing the arrangements in the Panjab University.

Upcoming Festival and Conference

CHANDIGARH SAHITYA AKADEMI

in collaboration with

PANJAB UNIVERSITY

&

MELOW

(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World)

cordially invites you to the

4^th CHANDIGARH FESTIVAL OF LETTERS

and  the

12^th INTERNATIONAL MELOW CONFERENCE

from 8^th to 10^th February 2013

INAUGURATION BY

SHRI KAPIL SIBAL

Minister for Communications and Information Technology 

on 8 Feb 2013

at 10.15 am

Venue: English Auditorium, Panjab University

rsvp: sahitakad2008@gmail.com 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FESTIVAL:

Date & Time	Venue	Events / Writer Sessions
8 Feb 2013         10.15 AM                             12 noon                            7.00 PM	English Audi English Audi English Audi	Inauguration Awards of Recognition Keki Daruwalla Ravindra Kalia Darshan Singh Butar An evening with Irshad Kamil
9 Feb 2013         11.30 AM                            7.00 PM	Gandhi Bhavan English Audi	Mamta Kalia Manjula Rana Gauri Shankar Raina Vikram Sampath Siddhartha Gigoo
10 Feb 2013        3.00 PM                               4.30 PM	English Audi English Audi	Arundhati Subramaniam Meghna Pant Amandeep Sandhu Concluding event: Annual Prizes

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Theme: Patterns of Story Telling: Traditions, Innovations, Visions and Revisions

8 Feb 2013      3.00 PM                           4.00 to 5.30 PM	English Audi    Parallel Sessions	Keynote address by Prof Cheryl Johnson, U of Ohio, Miami
9 Feb 2013     9.30 to11.00AM                       11.30 to 1.00PM                       2.00 to 3.30 PM                        3.30 to 5.00 PM	Parallel Sessions Parallel Sessions Parallel Sessions Parallel Sessions
10 Feb 2013  9.00 to 10.30AM                       10.30 to 12noon                       12.00 to 2.00PM	Parallel Sessions Parallel Sessions English Audi	ISM Session ISM Special Lecture by Prof Sushila Singh (BHU) Conference Conclusion

Awards for Printed books 2012

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi invites writers residing or working in Chandigarh to submit PRINTED BOOKS in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, or English (Poetry, Fiction, Plays) published in 2012.

Three copies of each book should be sent to the CSA office (1st Floor, State Library, Sector 34, Chandigarh), by JANUARY 10, 2013.

Edited books and those published with financial help from CSA or from another agency will not be considered.

Manju Jaidka
Chairperson, CSA

Lok Chua and the Gold Mountain

Prof Cheng Lok Chua's talk on Chinese American Contribution to Literature, 1st Dec 2012

A constant endeavor of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi is to organize forums in which local writers, academicians and lovers of literature may get a chance to interact with visiting men and women of letters. In times such as ours, when the world seems to have shrunk to manageable proximities, an exchange is desirable across borders spatial and temporal. With this in view, the CSA, as explained by the Chairperson of the Akademi, Manju Jaidka, is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to bring in travellers from distant lands who will bring with them stories of different peoples and cultures. 

This morning the CSA organized a talk at the UT Guest House by such a visiting scholar. Prof Cheng Lok Chua is an Emeritus Professor at the California State University at Fresno, currently on a Visiting Fulbright assignment at Nepal. He is now in India on a brief visit. An eminent professor of American Literature and the writer and editor of several books and journals, Lok Chua's talk this morning was on "The Chinese American Gold Mountain: An Asian American Version of the American Dream" . He spoke at length on the Chinese American contribution to literature, illustrating from two well-known texts, Lin Yutang's Chinatown Family (1945) and Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior (1976).

Going back in history, Prof Lok Chua explained how the early Chinese immigrants first landed in America during the gold rush of the mid-nineteenth century, worked hard at the mines, the railroads and plantations, battled all exclusionist policies, finally settled down in their new location, and came to be regarded as an important, much respected part of the American society.

Chairing today's session was Prof Brajesh Sawhney of Kurukshetra University who steered the lively discussion that followed and also summed up the session with a reference to the present multicultural and multi-ethnic texture of America today. 

Prof Anil Raina, Vice-Chairperson of the Akademi, and Shri Madhav Kaushik, Secretary, thanked the audience for their enthusiasm. It was further announced that the next event would be a local Goshthi in early January which would showcase writers from the city who had published books in the last couple of months. Concerned writers may get in touch with the Akademi. Further, a Literary Quiz will be organized in mid-January, primarily for college students but also open to the public.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi is accepting SHORT STORIES (between 1,000 and 2,000 words) and POEMS (not exceeding 2 pages) in English, Hindi and Punjabi for possible publication in a forthcoming anthology. Contributions may be submitted at the CSA office (1st Floor, State Library Sector 34) right up to Dec 20, 2012.

Photographs of this mornings talks are posted on FB. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.564551490228596.149029.100000212495273&type=1