ITANAGAR, 24 Nov: Author-delegates of the Arunachal Literary Festival-2023 cheered up the National Book Week celebration in Lohit and Anjaw districts as Tezu (Lohit)-based Bamboosa Library organised a series of reading promotion events to provide the rural youths an opportunity to interact with eminent writers.
The delegates were Prof KP Mohanan (former secretary of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi), K Ashtamurthi (leading short story writer in Malayalam), and Dr A Venugopalan (senior nuclear scientist and publisher of ‘Dimdima’ children’s magazine from Mumbai).
The delegates addressed students, teachers and readers at the VKV in Tafrogam, the Govt Secondary School in Walong, the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Tezu, and the readers and volunteers of Bamboosa Library in Tezu.
Prof Mohanan spoke on the importance of extensive reading by youths, and pointed out that “this would greatly help promote creating a vibrant mother language literature in Arunachal.”
Tezu-based Indira Gandhi Govt College’s English Department Professor Mohanan spoke on ‘Literature and language identity’. Lauding the active participation of university and college students in the lit fest, he urged the faculty and the students of Tezu College to “take keen efforts to promote your own mother language literature.”
Referring to the writings of Arunachal’s eminent writer Mamang Dai, he said that, “with commitment, Arunachal can produce many new writers with a pan-Indian readership.”
Dr Venugopalan spoke on nuclear energy, and on how children’s magazines can be used by students and teachers to promote creativity and educational standards in Arunachals’ schools. He gave assurance that ‘Dimdima’ magazine would “gladly encourage Arunachals’ students to bring out their writing skills.”
Lohit Youth Library Network coordinator S Mundayoor also participated in the reading sessions in Lohit and Anjaw.
