Writers of eight languages participated
Eastern Region is treasure of literature: Madhav Kaushik
Bhubaneswar (Rajat Banshal): The Eastern Writers’ Meet, organized by the Central Sahitya Akademi and Odisha Sahitya Akademi, has been inaugurated at Sanskruti Bhawan auditorium. The inaugural session of the event was presided over by President of Sahitya Akademi Dr. Madhav Kaushik.
Dr Kaushik strongly opined that Eastern region is a treasure land of literature. This region has created a number of legendary writers. In the context of contemporary literature, he said that we should use technology as a powerful tool of literature instead of becoming its slave.
Secretary of Sahitya Akademi Dr. K. Sreenivasrao delivered the welcome address. In his speech, he highlighted the importance of organizing the regional writers’ meet. Eminent Odia poet Haraprasad Das, who attended as the chief guest, spoke about various aspects of Indian literature. He said that Indian literature and culture is far ahead of western ones. He also informed the writers about the bad use of Artificial Intelligence and chatgpt in translation and creations.
Dr. Gourahari Das, Convenor of the Eastern Regional Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi, presented the introductory remarks. He emphasized the importance of organizing such multilingual events in Odisha.
Dr. Chandrashekhar Hota, Secretary, Odisha Sahitya Academy, proposed the vote of thanks. On this occasion, books published by Sahitya Akademi, namely Dayalal Joshi (Odia), Shunyare Hastakshar (Odia), Abothira (Bodo), Totoder Upokatha (Bengali), Otikram (Assamese) and An Introduction to Naga Folk Song (English) were released by the guests.
The first session was chaired by Diganta Biswa Sharma, Convenor of the Assamese Advisory Board. Poems were recited by Bornali Borgohain (Assamese), Arnab Saha (Bengali), Krishna Mohan Jha (Maithili), Mohan Subedi (Nepali), Aparna Mohanty (Odia) and Anpa Marndi (Santali). Shri Biswa Sharma gave his comments on the aesthetics and contextualization of the poems.
Sri Sarma highlighted the beauty of Indian poetics. The second session was presided over by eminent fiction writer Adhyapak Biswaranjan and stories were read by Binayak Bandopadhyay (Bengali), Sadhana Brahma (Bodo), Ashok (Maithili) and Devbaprasad Dash (Odia).
The stories and poems reflect the culture and traditions of their respective areas along with the diverse voices of contemporary society. The programme was coordinated by Kshetrabasi Naik, Officer-in-Charge of Sahitya Akademi Kolkata Office. Tomorrow, along with multilingual stories and poetry readings in two sessions, another session is meant for discussion on contemporary trends in Eastern Regional literature.
