NEW DELHI, Mar 7: India’s cultural diversity is reflected through its many languages, dialects, cuisines and identities, and one of the important fibres in that thread that unites the diverse cultures is the rich literary heritage, Union Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Friday.
The minister was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the 41st edition of the Sahitya Akademi’s Sahityotsav: Festival of Letters.
“We are not only proud of our rich cultural traditions but also our diversity. India is a country full of diversity. India’s many different languages, dialects, food practices, clothing, identities and its cultural diversity is also visible on its literary canvas. Of the many fibres in the thread that unites all of India’s diversities, literature is indeed a valued one,” Shekhawat said.
He added that India’s literature had continuously played the role of bringing the country’s many cultures together.
“We can think of many literary works from our Vaidik literature, Puranas, epics and other timeless works, all have tried to remove the distance between India’s diverse cultures. India’s literature goes far beyond religious texts or fiction, it is a prominent marker of our historicity, ideologies and identities,” Shekhawat said.
The minister added that Indian literature had for thousands of years provided continuity to its cultural transformation.
“India’s litterateurs have created works as medium of giving direction to life,” he said.
The annual literature festival will include lectures and sessions by eminent writers and poets, including Mamang Dai, Sanjoy Hazarika, Nilima Singh, Mini Krishnan, Sujata Shiven, Rakhshanda Jalil, Nandita Das, Akhil Katyal, Paul Zacharia, Volga, Arjun Deo Charan, Waman Kendre, AJ Thomas, Manisha Kulshreshtha, Yatindra Mishra, and MK Raina.
On Saturday, the academy will felicitate 23 winners of the Sahitya Akademi Award at a ceremony that will be addressed by noted English playwright Mahesh Dattani.
This year’s Samvatsar Lecture will be delivered by English writer Upamanyu Chatterjee on the topic of “Some Things to Talk About” on Sunday.
On Monday, Sahitya Akademi Award winners Gagan Gill (Hindi), K Jayakumar (Malayalam), Sameer Tanti (Assamese), AR Venkatachalapathy (Tamil) and Dileep Jhaveri (Gujarati) will interact with other eminent writers and scholars, including Anjum Sharma, P Krishnanunni, Dinkar Kumar, DI Aravindan and Kamal Vora, respectively.
A three-day national seminar on the festival theme will be organised from Monday. The inaugural session will be addressed by Bengali scholar and translator Sukanta Chaudhuri and keynote address delivered by English writer Makarand Paranjape.
During the national seminar, discussions on different forms of Indian literature, including ancient Indian literature, translations, drama, Dharma literature, women’s writing, poetry, Bhakti literature and Dalit writing, will be held.
Some of the writers and thinkers to attend the national seminar include Chittaranjan Tripathy, Sayantan Dasgupta, C Rajendran, Indrani Sanyal, Seema Sharma, Malashri Lal, Jay Saha, Sudha Seshayyan, and TS Krishnan.
The academy will also observe the birth centenary of Hindi playwright Mohan Rakesh and Malayalam playwright Omcherry NN Pillai with discussions on their writings.
The six-day festival will also put a spotlight on writings from the northeast, tribal regions and the LGBTQ community through panel discussions, writers’ and poets’ meets, and book readings.
Children’s writers, young writers, short story writers and writers of women literature will be part of separate panel discussions and meets.
Other writers and poets who will take part in the literature festival include Jerry Pinto, Agni Roy, Badri Narayan, Ami Upadhyay, Baliram N Gaikwad, Ashok Chakradhar, Amarjit Singh Grewal, Jwishri Boro, Abhay K, and Chandra Prakash Deval.
Cultural performances by flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, vocalist Nalini Joshi, and Fouzia Dastango and Ritesh Yadav will be organised.
The festival, ending on Wednesday, will take place in the Rabindra Bhawan lawns, Kamani Auditorium, art galleries of Lalit Kala Akademi and Sahitya Akademi auditoriums. (PTI)
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