Reading is a communal act: Jerry Pinto

Arunachal Literature Festival starts

Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Nov 27: ‘Reading is a communal act, we do it together; I write for you, you read it for me,’ said Mumbai based writer Jerry Pinto while sharing his opinion on the topic, ‘A writer’s Responsibility” during the afternoon session of the Arunachal Literature Festival which began here on Wednesday.
Pinto said that the readers have equal responsibility while reading so as the writers when they write.
‘The writers constantly have to negotiate the responsibility and the responsibility is so heavily burdened on all of us’, Pinto opined.
Indonesian writer Leila Chudor, who was also a panelist in this session, said, “We cannot dictate the readers, if they want to translate or interpret, I have no say on them”
Giving his opinion on writers’ responsibility, Sri Lankan writer Ashok Ferrey said, ” Years ago you could write what you want to write, can get away after writings, but more and more writing are being hijacked by the activism and polemic in a way architectures are being hijacked by engineers, more science than arts.” The session was chaired by chaired by Bangalore based Author Anuja Chauha.
The second afternoon session was with Ramsharan Joshi and Balendu Dwivedi on the topic, “Nationalism in Present Scenario” which was chaired by Samudra Gupta Kashyap, former journalist with the Indian Express. In conversation session, author Dhruba Hazarika was in conversation with Ashok Ferrey on his works and writings.