Punekars turn out in numbers for two-day Lit Fest

Celebration of literature, culture and diversity in languages. The fourth edition of Deccan Literature Festival organised by the Dakani Adab Foundation, was a bouquet of these and more.
Held in the city's Bal Gandharv Mandir, and themed Celebrating Our Shared Heritage, the festival had four languages in focus - Hindi, English, Urdu and Marathi. “There has been an overwhelming response from the people.

The two-day festival showcased an array of events, including panel discussions, book launches, poetry recitals, plays and musical performances, with names like Ustad Shujaat Hussain, Padma Shri Ram Dayal Sharma, Wasim Balervi, Vasant Abaji Dahake, Saurabh Shukla, Devdutt Pattnaik among others in attendance.

Poetry enthusiasts couldn’t get enough of Wasim Balervi’s poetry even past midnight, with multiple requests pouring in ..

“I personally enjoyed the Folk Art Performance" – Nautanki

My ancestors were the reason behind my writing 'Fire Bird': Perumal Murugan on winning JCB prize for literature 2023

 

                                                          'Fire Bird' by Perumal Murugan

Renowned Tamil writer Perumal Murugan and his translator Janani Kannan won the 2023 JCB Prize for Literature for his book 'Fire Bird' at a gala event held at the Taj Mahal, New Delhi, on November 18, 2023. Perumal Murugan and translator Janani Kannan were announced as the winners of this year's prize by Lord Bamford- Chairman of JCB Group, virtually.

While Murugan was awarded 25 lakh rupees as the prize money, the translator has received an additional 10 lakh rupee prize.
Since both Murugan and Kannan were unable to attend the literary event in the national capital, the coveted trophy was awarded by Deepak Shetty- CEO and Managing Director, JCB India Limited on behalf of Lord Bamford, to Sundaram Kannan, and Manasi Subramaniam, the Tamil publisher and the Editor of the English translation, respectively. The trophy titled ‘Mirror Melting’ is a sculpture by Delhi artist duo, Thukral and Tagra.
Originally written in Tamil as 'Aalanda Patchi', 'Fire Bird' is a thought-provoking and profound exploration of the innate human desire for stability in a world that is ever-changing. Talking about the book and commenting on winning the award, Murugan said in a video message which was played at the event, "Vanakkam. Humans have been migrating for a long time in search of food. It has always been the will of the human being to live in one place. Almost all living beings would have nurtured such desire. Which life would like a constant wandering? Today, human beings largely live a constant life. Yet migration is not over. Many reasons such as natural changes, politics, power, war, work, and family lead to migration. To move away from one place is suffering; it is also suffering to migrate to some other place and live there. Compulsions of life lead to such suffering.
"'Aalanda Patchi' was about the forced migration of an agrarian family that happened six decades ago. The tragedy of being alienated from one's native place, land and family; (and move to a) new town, new landscapes, new people, new environment. They have to accept it and make it constant. I wrote the novel driven by a desire to write about the capability of a family to handle both challenges. I have heard many migration stories of my ancestors. In my youth, I experienced firsthand the migration of our family away from the land where we have lived for generations. I have also been aware of many stories of migration of the families of my relatives. The characters of Muthu, Perumayi, and Kuppan were drawn from the essence of such stories. The suffering of migration and the experience of travels from this novel. This is not merely the story of my ancestors. This doesn't merely show the life of a family or my own family. I believe the novel will emotionally connect with every person displaced, small or big. The novel will also provide an experience of understanding the agrarian life, the old times when there were not as many modern amenities, and the family relationships that characterize feudal life. Translated into English as 'Fire Bird', the novel has reached a wider readership after its publication. It has also become a novel liked by the readers.

"I feel happy that everyone is associating themselves with this novel. That the novel has won the prestigious JCB Prize is an important recognition. I am grateful to everyone including my ancestors who were the reason behind my writing this novel, my family which helped me in writing this, Kalachuvadu Kannan who published it in Tamil, Penguin which published it in English, translator Janani Kannan, the jury of the JCB Prize and JCB institute."

Booker prize: rediscovering the first female winner, the often-forgotten Bernice Rubens

 

                                    Bernice Rubens was born in a working class area of Cardiff. 

One of the most captivating and enigmatic novelists of the 20th century, Bernice Rubens remains largely unknown despite her remarkable literary achievements. She was the second recipient of the Booker prize in 1970 for her novel The Elected Member and its first female winner.

She remains the only Welsh winner in the history of the prize – a fact that perhaps speaks volumes for the way Welsh writing in the English language is perceived and recognised outside of Wales.

Rubens was born in the working class area of Adamsdown in Cardiff in 1923, to Polish and Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. She attended the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), where she received a BA in English in 1947. Having taught English and worked on documentary films early on in her career, she only started writing at the age of 30.

Rubens went on to publish more than 20 novels and one work of non-fiction before her death in 2004, but still referred to her own writing as merely “better than most, not as good as some”.

This wry view underplays just how versatile her style and subject matter was, however. And while Rubens was well known and applauded during her lifetime, her work, like so many other Welsh women, is often unknown outside of Welsh university circles, some English literature degrees and more adventurous book clubs.

Some of this relates, perhaps, to the fact that she never really fitted into the Cardiff literary scene and was often overshadowed by some of her contemporaries, especially Welsh poet, Dannie Abse.

But as a working class Welsh-Jewish writer, her ability to unflinchingly explore the traumas and legacies of her own cultural heritage makes her writing especially memorable and haunting.

Cultural background

In The Elected Member, Rubens looks at how the façade of a respectable Jewish family crumbles when their beloved son plunges into the depths of drug addiction.

Her 1983 novel, Brothers, explores the experiences of four generations of a family as they face the Tsarist army in Russia in the 1830s, the 1871 Odessa pogrom in Ukraine, emigration (to both Wales and Germany) and concentration camps.

The novel exemplifies the worst of human behaviour in relation to marginalised and persecuted people. But it also underlines the need for human connection and, ultimately, hope. No one who reads Brothers could walk away from the experience unchanged From a Welsh perspective, her 1975 novel, I Sent A Letter to My Love, is one of Rubens’ most disturbing and strangely poignant works. Set in the “one-eyed” seaside town of Porthcawl, the novel follows the struggles of unmarried, middle-aged Amy and her disabled brother, Stan, and their close friend, Gwyneth, as they live out their tedious existences.

Much of the novel’s action revolves around the drama that ensues from Amy placing an advert in the personal column of the local newspaper under the pseudonym “Blodwyn Pugh”. Instead of receiving an overwhelming postbag of suitors, Amy receives a single reply –- from her brother, Stan.

Their letter writing becomes increasingly sexual, until Stan starts to develop feelings for Gwyneth. This willingness to confront the quasi-incestuous nature of the siblings’ relationship (albeit unknowing, at least on Stan’s side), is one of the reasons Rubens’ work is so discomfiting. It refuses to be easily labelled or contained in a genre or style.

The novel was later made into a French film, Chère Inconnue, in 1982, starring Simone Signoret and Jean Rochefort, which also plays on the novel’s disturbing central plot.

Defying genre

Overall, Rubens’ fictions are hybrid and sit between different cultural identities. They are impossible to neatly pigeonhole. Indeed, critics like Hana Sambrook have referred to the “maddening” refusal of her writing to fit neatly into a single category.

However, this refusal to fit is exactly why Rubens is so important. Why should she fit neatly into any category? Why do we put so much value on genre and style being so precisely categorised?

Readers today will find much of Rubens’ back catalogue available second hand. But only a single novel, I Sent A Letter to My Love, has been incorporated into the Library of Wales series from publisher Parthian Books, which aims to republish significant works of classic Welsh literature in English.

Rubens sits alongside a small handful of other women writers in the collection, including Rachel Trezise, Dorothy Edwards, Hilda Vaughan and Margiad Evans.

Perhaps the way we immortalise our own cultural history in Wales is part of the reason why working-class women writers such as Rubens are yet to reach a wider audience, beyond the popularity of their day.

However, even more importantly in my view, it lies with the failure of prominent prizes to fully recognise Welsh women’s contribution to literary history. Sadly, it’s a failure that seems unlikely to be overturned any time soon.

PS Sreedharan Pillai Released Three New Books on Nature, Trees, and Geopolitics

Goa governor PS Sreedharan Pillai released three books at a function held at the Raj Bhavan. His recently authored three new books namely ‘Heritage Trees of Goa’, ‘When Parallel Lines Meet’, and ‘Ente Priya Kavithakal‘ (‘My Dear Poems’ a collection of poems). Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant inaugurated the event in Panaji, Goa. West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose unveiled the book ‘Heritage Trees of Goa’, while Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant inaugurated the event. Goa state minister for tourism Rohan Khaunte and Jnanpith winner Damodar Mauzo released two other books:  ‘When Parallel Lines Meet’ and ‘Ente Priya Kavitakal’.

About the Books

‘Heritage Trees of Goa’ is a book that explores centuries-old heritage trees found in Goan villages and various places of worship, adding to the experience of ‘Goa Sampurna Yatra’.

The second book, ‘When Parallel Lines Meet’, is a contemporary geopolitical book.

“The third book named ‘Ente Priya Kavithakal (collection of poems) represents one of the best depictions of nature, art and literature,”

International Conference

 “Children may not understand all that’s happening below the surface of a story. It doesn’t matter. Because even though they may not be able to define or verbalize it, they sense there’s something more than meets the eye; on an almost subliminal level, they are aware of a richness of texture, or meaning and emotion -- a richness that, in a great book, is inexhaustible. And the child may well come back to it again and again, perhaps long after he’s stopped being a child. ”

-Lloyd Alexender

Writers have never ceased to depict the innocence, magic and wonder of children in words as well as in spirit. Children are regarded as the most innocent form of being. Their presence illuminate hearts and souls of all. From the lovable Winnie-the-Pooh, the curious Alice, the naughty Peter Pan, to the all-time favorite Swami of Malgudi Days, Children’s Literature as a discipline has borne another discourse. Is Children Literature only for children? The debate is multidimensional and has proved to remain evergreen. Since times immemorial, ‘books’ for children are written. Works like Panchatantra (800 BC) by Vishnu Gupta, Aesop’s Fables(600BC) by Aesop, One Thousand and One Nights (08 cen. AD), and the Best Friend in the Worst Times (1670) by James Janeway and writers like Saadi Shirazi, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Allama Iqbal have crystallized the existence of the same. In others words, Children’s Literature has never been limited to a few people. No civilization has failed to amalgamate this genre of literary finesse within their culture.

The recent years have fruited out dynamic changes circumscribing the periphery of children and their world owing to the changing landscape of global politics. Experts, scholars and researchers from various other branches and clusters of literature are now coming forward to address the issues around children. Whether its war against nature, or conflict amongst humans, children can be seen everywhere. In order to address issues and challenges posed to children the Kashmiri Section, Department of Modern Indian Languages, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India is pleased to announce the call for papers for the International Conference.

We invite scholars and researchers to send their abstracts not exceeding 300 words to clc2023amu@gmail.com along with a short bio not exceeding 100 words by 10th of September 2023. Potential topics include, but are by no means limited to:

Historical perspective of Children’s Literature.

Children’s Literature in Indian Languages.

Drama/Theatre/ Novels/Poetry in Children’s Literature.

Moral Education/Ethical Values in Children’s Literature.

Pluralism in Children’s Literature.

Culture and Diversity in Children’s Literature.

Representation of Childhood in Literature.

Psychological Aspects of Children’s Literature.

Carnivalesque in Children’s Literature.

Hauntology in Children’s Literature.

Didacticism in Children’s Literature.

Mythological/Supernatural elements in Children’s Literature.

Colonial/postcolonial/de-colonial/neo-colonial Children’s Literature.

Eco-critical/ Ecological aspects of Children’s Literature.

War/Trauma/Conflict/Violence in Children’s Literature.

Gothic Studies and Children’s Literature.

Children’s Literature in Popular Culture.

Fables and Fairy/Folk tales/ in Children’s Literature.

Humor and Satire in Children’s Literature.

Translation Studies and Children’s Literature.

Art/Animation/comics/picture books for Children.

Journals/monographs in Children’s Literature.

Literature by Children.

Biographies/life writings in Children’s Litearture.

Disability in Children’s Literature.

Electronic Media and Children’s Literature.

Science Fiction and Children’s Literature.

Digital Education and Children’s Literature.

The Child and Childhood in Children’s Narratives.

School Curriculum/Textbooks/Material Designing for Children.

Issues and Challenges in Children’s Literature

Important Dates

Deadline for Submission of Abstracts : September 10, 2023

Notification of acceptance : September 20, 2023

Registration opens : September 25, 2023

Submission of full paper : November 01, 2023

Once the abstract has been accepted, a Google form will be sent for registration and the mode of payment will also be duly notified.

Select papers will be considered for publication after the conference.

Non-presenters/Attendees will be given certificate of participation after fulfilling the registration formalities.

The delegates may submit their abstract(s) in English/Urdu/Hindi or any other Indian Language.

Abstracts and bio-notes of the author(s) should be mailed as a single MS- Word attachment, with font size: 12 Times New Roman, line spacing 1.5.

For questions or queries, please write to: clc2023amu@gmail.com

Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 goes to Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson

 

McPherson was the regional winner of the Caribbean last month, and won out of 6,641 entrants. (Source: Commonwealth Foundation)

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 has been won by Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson, for his story Ocoee, about a driver in a Floridian town who is pulled over by the police in an encounter that unravels the history of his home and life.

McPherson was the regional winner of the Caribbean last month, and won out of 6,641 entrants. He will receive a cash prize of £5,000.

On his win, he said, “When I began my writing journal it was not a conscious decision, it was just something I enjoyed doing… Having the ability to provoke thought, interest or move a reader from one mental and emotional state to the next, is a skill within itself and one I have been blessedly bestowed with and do not take for granted.”

The jury consists of writers and editors from five continental regions, including Pakistani writer Bilal Tanweer (chairperson, Asia), Rémy Ngamije (Africa), Ameena Hussein (Asia), Katrina Best (Canada and Europe), Mac Donald Dixon (Caribbean) and Selina Tusitala Marsh (Pacific).On Ocoee, an exploration of the African diasporic experience in the Caribbean with a touch of regional folklore, Tanweer said, “[It] forces a reckoning with the challenge that confronts all writers in the postcolonial world: how to write about a world that has been destroyed without any traces.”

Indian writer Vidhan Verma made it to the shortlist for his story A Groom like Shahrukh, but missed out to Singapore’s Agnes Chew, who became the regional winner of Asia.

Other regional winners, all of whom won a cash prize of £2,500, are as follows: Hana Gammon (South Africa, Africa), Himali McInnes (New Zealand, Pacific, and Rue Baldry (United Kingdom, Canada and Europe).The 2020 edition of the annual award of short fiction went to India’s Kritika Pandey, for her story The Great Indian Tee and Snakes. The 2024 prize will open for submissions on September 1 and will also accept entries in Bengali, Chinese, Swahili and Tamil — the winning entry, if in one of these languages, will be translated to English.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee birth anniversary

 

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, often referred to as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, was a prominent Indian writer, poet, and journalist. He was born on June 26, 1838, in Naihati, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day West Bengal, India). Bankim Chandra Chatterjee played a significant role in the development of Bengali literature during the 19th century and is considered one of the key figures in the Indian literary renaissance.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's notable works include novels, poems, and essays that explored various social, political, and cultural aspects of India. His most famous novel is "Anandamath" (1882), which features the song "Vande Mataram," later adopted as India's national song during the freedom struggle against British rule.
Chatterjee's other notable works include "Durgeshnandini" (1865), "Kapalkundala" (1866), "Krishnakanter Will" (1878), and "Devi Chaudhurani" (1884). His writings often depicted the struggles of the Indian people and advocated for societal reform.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's contributions to Indian literature and his nationalist ideas continue to have a profound impact on Indian society. He passed away on April 8, 1894, but his legacy as one of the pioneers of modern Indian literature lives on.

Poet Anthony Anaxagorou wins Ondaatje Prize 2023

 

The British-Cypriot poet took the £10,000 award with his third book of poems, which judges described as ‘pushing the confines of form and language’.

The poet Anthony Anaxagorou has won the £10,000 Ondaatje prize for a “beautiful” collection “that pushes the confines of form and language to locate a new aesthetic with which to address the legacies of colonisation”.

The award, run annually by the Royal Society of Literature, recognises an outstanding work of fiction, nonfiction or poetry that evokes a sense of place. Anaxagorou was awarded the prize for Heritage Aesthetics, a poetry collection that looks at time and place in its exploration of British imperial history and present-day racism.

The chair of judges, journalist Samira Ahmed, said Anaxagorou’s poetry “is beautiful, but does not sugarcoat. The arsenic of historical imperial arrogance permeates the Britain he explores in his writing. And the joy of this collection comes from his strength, knowledge, maturity, but also from deeply felt love.”

Anaxagorou’s collection is shaped by his family’s migratory history between Cyprus and the UK. Poet Mary Jean Chan wrote in their Guardian review that “intertextuality pervades the collection,” with excerpts from books and magazines woven experimentally through the poems.

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Ahmed was joined on the judging panel by poets Roger Robinson and Joelle Taylor. Robinson, who won the Ondaatje prize in 2020, said Anaxagorou “lets the narrative of the poems fracture as if somehow there has been a traumatic event, and that fracture became a form by deconstruction of texts and literatures to make comment not only on them but also on the fact that Cyprus has been shaped by 2,000 years of colonial rule”.

Taylor said Heritage Aesthetics “pushes the confines of form and language to locate a new aesthetic with which to address the legacies of colonisation. A tour guide, an archive, a personal meditation on belonging. Beautiful.”

Anaxagorou runs Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night at London’s Southbank Centre. In 2015, he set up Out-Spoken Press, which publishes poetry and critical writing with a focus on voices underrepresented in the publishing industry. The poet’s second collection, After the Formalities, was shortlisted for the 2019 TS Eliot prize. In 2020, he published How to Write It, a guide to crafting fiction and poetry, with Stormzy’s publishing imprint Merky Books.

Other titles shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize were Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, England’s Green by Zaffar Kunial and Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris.

The judges said of the shortlisted titles: “Cinematic in scope and description, we were enticed by personal stories connected to larger histories, rich and adventurous language, and revelations that sometimes bordered on an unexpected new form of creative documentary”.

Lea Ypi won the 2022 prize for Free, a memoiristic account of Albania during the collapse of communism. Other past winners include Peter Pomerantsev, Alan Johnson and Aida Edemariam. The award was established in 2004 by its funder, the financier and writer Sir Christopher Ondaatje.