ZIRO, 30 Sep: The two-day Ziro Literary Festival held at St Claret College, Ziro (SCCZ) here in Lower Subansiri district concluded on Friday.
The annual literary festival, which is conducted concurrently with the famous Ziro Festival of Music (ZFM), gave tourists as well as writers from and outside the state and students of SCCZ an opportunity to explore their creative aspects in arts and literature.
The literary festival is organised by Pheonix Rising LLP (also the organiser of ZFM), and SCCZ.
The highlights of the final day were a conversation with retired IAS officer Hage Kojeen on ‘A journey from village school to election commission’; a talk by Nagaland MLA Mmhonlumo Kikon on ‘Activism, politics and poetry’; a conversation with Kripa Foundation Centres project director Rabiul Islam and Lower Subansiri SP Sachin Singhal on ‘Should we say no to drugs?’; and a discussion with Manipuri folksong performer Mangka Mayanglambam and Welsh-American multi-instrumentalist William Rees Hofmann on ‘Creative intercultural collaborations’.
Kikon in his talk recounted his initial struggles in turning his environmental activism into a successful political movement, and encouraged young and willing students to “take initiative in participating in grassroots-level politics,” adding, however, that “politics has to be on the basis of how to serve people.”
Speaking about his book, Slingstones, he dwelt on “the importance of defining one’s history with a narration defined through writings.” He also advised the students to “have strict discipline in writing if they want to be successful writers.”
Kojeen also narrated his journey in the field of writing and how it pushed him to be a better government officer. He stressed that “there is no other formula to success other than strong willpower and hard work.”
Singhal and Islam spoke about “the need for collective efforts from every stakeholder of a community in combating against misuse of drugs and other intoxicative substances.”
During the discussion, moderator Ranju Dodum remarked that “the drug-related issue is a multi-layered issue and it may take a tedious process to wipe out the issue from society.”
SCCZ principal Fr Allwyn Mendoz also spoke.
