Skip to content Skip to navigation

Thousands throng Brahmaputra Literary Festival

By Nava Thakuria |

Creative writers, journalists, filmmakers, vivid appreciators, enthusiast observers from various parts of the globe now gather at Brahmaputra Literary Festival in the far eastern part of India. First of its kinds in the alienated region of the country, the festival witnessed the gala opening on Saturday precluding all serious panel discussions on literature and related other creative activities.

Eminent authors including Randy Taguchi from Japan, Neal Hall from USA, Carlo Pizaati, Giampaolo Simi & Alessandra Bertini from Italy, Francois Gautier & Nicolos Idier from France, Carlos Penalver from Spain, Subramani from Fiji, Dhunpal Raj Heeraman & Ramdeo Dhorundhur from Mauritius, Selina Hussain & Shaheen Akhtar from Bangladesh, Rajiva Wijesinha from Sri Lanka, Raj Heeramun, Ramdev Dhoorandhar & Niranjan Kunwar from Nepal, Yugyen Tshering from Bhutan have already graced Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, the venue of the festival.

Many prominent Indian writers and cultural personalities like Asha Parekh, Shatrughan Sinha, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra Damodar Mauzo, Subhash Kashyap, Makarand Paranjpe, Narendra Kohli, Khalid Mohammed, Dipa Choudhuri are scheduled to participate in various sessions of the festival including open interaction with the audience.

Some famed north-eastern creative personalities and journalists including Sanjoy Hazarika, Arup Kumar Dutta, Jahnavi Barua, Mamang Dai, Pradip Phanjoubam, Monalisa Chankija, Dhruba Hazarika, Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi, Leena Sarma, Jnan Pujari, Phanindra Kumar Debachoudhury, Kula Saikia, Rami Chhabra, Vimala Morthala, Aniz Uz Zaman, Monikuntala Bhattacharjya, Dileep Chandan along with Utpal Borpujari, Nilim Kumar, Suparna Lahiri Baruah, Mirza Ali Baig, Prasanta Rajguru, Mrinal Talukdar, Arindam Barkataki, Samrat Chowdhury, Nanigopal Mahanta, Imran Hussain, Ratna Barali Talukdar, Atanu Bhattachrya, Geetali Borah etc arrived at the venue for cohesive participation.

With this three-day fiesta, jointly organised by the National Book Trust India (under HRD ministry) and Publication Board Assam (under Assam’s education ministry), the city has emerged as an important venue of literary festivals in the country. With brain storming panel discussions, book releases & readings, cultural events including screenings of films based on literary pieces etc, the festival is expected to enrich the literary prospect of the region to many extend. Inaugurating the festival, the Union human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar appealed to the litterateur and authors to contribute for the mission to build a culturally sound society through their literary pieces reflecting the truth. Once a journalist, Javadekar also assured the government's support in ensuring the freedom of thought & expressions.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, State education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, celebrated authors Randy Taguchi, Mamang Dai and Damodar Mauzo, NBT chairman Baldeo Bhai Sharma & director Rita Choudhury also addressed the gathering under the winter sky. Earlier a spectacular literary carnival led the participants to the festival venue in the southern part of the pre-historic city.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Huge rally in Delhi to demand Akhil Gogoi's release

19 Nov 2017 - 12:56pm | AT News
NEW DELHI:Over 10,000 farmers from north, east and southern states have arrived in New Delhi to hold a huge rally on Monday demanding immediate release of Akhil Gogoi two days after the Assam NSA...

Body condemns inclusion of Assamese in RMSA list in Manipur

6 Jul 2011 - 1:54pm | editor
Integrated Farmers Association (IFA) today denounced the inclusion of a non-Manipuri in the Rashtriya Madhyamik Abhiyan eligible list of Manipur Education Department. The association said in a...

ABSU burns Hagrama's effigy

19 Dec 2015 - 1:53pm | Jayanta Kumar Das
Protesting against BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary's remark on ABSU chief Pramod Boro,the anchalik committee of Kalaigaon ABSU staged demonstration in front of Kalaigaon police station on...

ULFA sticks to independence gun

7 Apr 2017 - 5:48pm | AT News
The United Liberation Front of Asom observed its foundation day on Friday reiterating its struggle for an independent Assam compelling authorities to tighten security across the state. ULFA cadres...

Other Contents by Author

GNRC conducts press club OPD

GNRC hospital conducted the last ‘Evening with a Doctor’ program at Guwahati Press Club (GPC) in northeast India on 5 November 2016 for the benefit of media persons along with their close relatives. The free health camp was attended by neurosurgeon Dr Naba Jyoti Borah and general physician Dr Aakashi Deka from the acclaimed hospital. Nearly 25 participants got the opportunity to check their blood pressure in the OPD. Mrinal Ali Hazarika, public relations officer of GNRC group along with nurse Ms Iban also oversaw the program. The last Saturday media health camp was postponed due to Deepawali celebration. The 22 October evening camp was conducted by the city based Sun Valley hospital on,...

Tilak Hazarika left for heavenly abode

He lived with self-pride and died calm. A scribe of repute, an editor of commitment and an author with humor, Tilak Hazarika passed away on the early hours of 22 October. The 95 crossed Assamese gentleman was admitted in the hospital on 19 September following a brain stroke, where the accomplished writer breathed his last. The veteran journalist, who was engaged with the popular Assamese weekly Sadin till his end, continued writing over various contemporary issues till he got hospitalized. He also authored and translated few books and was honored with accolades including the prestigious Sahitya Academy award inm 1996. Born at Silghat Sonari village in Koliabor on 3 October 1921, Hazarika...

Raha Ayurvedic institution should be named after Lokapriya

The central healthcare institution on the line of All India Institute of Ayurveda coming up at Raha in central Assam should be named after Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi, argues noted Assamese scholar and historian Nirode K. Barooah. Presently settled in Germany, the author of much acclaimed book ‘Gopinath Bardoloi, the Assam Problem and Nehru's Centre’, requested the Sarbananda Sonowal government at Dispur to initiate for honouring the great political personality of the country. Barooah asserted that Bardoloi, who was the first ‘prime minister’ of Assam, took personal interest to establish the Assam Ayurvedic College at Jalukbari locality in the outskirt of Guwahati and he along with Dr...

PPFA demands action against JNU anti-nationalists

Expressing shocks over the recent developments erupted from the New Delhi based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus with a section of students indulging in anti-national activities, a forum of patriotic people urged the authority to take stringent actions against the anti-India elements. Regretting that a prestigious institute like JNU has virtually turned into a hotbed for separatist activities, where some of the students showed the audacity to organize a meeting to raise slogans against the hanging of Afzal Guru, the Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) also asked the people to be cautious over such developments. The participating JNU students termed the execution of Guru on 9...

Community college mooted in NE University

A northeast India based technical university has mooted for a community college to impart skill development courses to youths of the region with an aim to improve professional skills and employability. The University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) has taken the initiative to launch the program under ‘Skill Youth- Skill India’ mission. “Under the programme, short term certificate & diploma courses will be conducted to train youths in various job oriented skill development initiatives in various schools of USTM. The scheme will become operational from June 2016,” said USTM chancellor Mahbubul Hoque. Speaking to reporters at Guwahati Press Club Hoque also added that initially...

JFA demands action against Manipur militants

Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed strong resentments over the militant’s threat to an Imphal based television editor and urged the Manipur government led by Okram Ibobi Singh to take immediate & appropriate actions against the culprits. The Assam based journalist organization also extended moral supports to the agitating Manipur journalists, who have been raising voices against the diktat of armed militants. The Manipur scribes on Wednesday staged a sit-in-protest and later carried out a silent rally in Imphal demanding action against a militant outfit, which placed a bomb at the residential gate of Yumnam Rupachandra, the editor of Impact Television, a local cable news...

EMFA expresses grief at Dipak Mahanta’s demise

Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) has expressed profound grief at the sudden demise of Dipak Mahanta, an eminent theatre personality and a senior producer at AssamTalks in an accident last night. Mahanta was on his return journey to Guwahati after a shooting schedule at Tejpur, when the vehicle carrying him with few other colleagues faced an accident at Deoshal locality of Jagiroad in the midnight of Wednesday. Seriously wounded Mahanta was taken to Guwahati Medical College Hospital, but the attending doctors declared him brought dead. The accompanying three television employees namely Ajmir Saikia, Pradesh Rabha and Atul Morang also sustained injuries, whom of course the doctors...

Bertil Lintner to attend GPC programme

Eminent author-journalist Bertil Lintner, who is recognized as an expert on Myanmar (Burma or Brahmadesh) affairs, is attending the next ‘Guest of the Month’ programme of Guwahati Press Club (GPC) on 24 October 2015. The interactive session is scheduled to start at 2 pm sharp.As India’s eastern neighbour Myanmar has prepared for the general elections on November 8 next, the city based media persons would have a rare opportunity to listen to the soft-spoken Swedish journalist based in southeast Asia. The overall implication of Myanmar polls on the far eastern part of India would also be a matter of kin observations for the participating journalists.Currently a writer with Asia Pacific Media...

Financial support to Mahanta’s family

The Satyam Foundation has donated a sum of rupees 15000 (fifteen thousand only) to the bereaved family of journalist Hiten Mahanta, who passed away on 29 August 2015 at GNRC hospital (Guwahati six-mile campus). Mahanta was not feeling well for some time. An honest, brave and impartial journalist, Mahanta used to raise voices relentlessly against the separatist militants of the troubled northeast India. Moreover, he was also vocal in favor of basic minimum facility & rights for the working journalists and other media employees of Assam. Mahanta also led various media persons’ organizations like Journalists’ Forum Assam, Journalist Action Committee, All Assam Media Employees Federation...

Stage set for charity soccer

The city based media persons and performing artistes have prepared for a friendly football match to generate funds for the flood affected families of Assam. The charity soccer match, scheduled for Saturday (26 September 2015) at Nehru Stadium, Ulubari, Guwahati, will kick off at 6 in the evening.Senior journalist Pranay Bordoloi will lead the Media XI, where as popular singer Zubeen Garg will be the captain of the Artistes Eleven. The media team also comprises Atanu Bhuyan (VC & Goal Keeper), Piter Alex (VC), Kishor Talukder (GK), Debashis Mandal, Niloy Bhattacharya, Amarendra Deka, Sunil Bora, Dasarath Deka, Pitambar Newar, Banajit Bhuyan, Naba Pegu, Dhruba Mahanta, Gautam Sarma,...