Ranchi: Tata Steel is all set to organise the second edition of ‘Jharkhand Literary Meet’ at Ranchi on December 8-9, 2018. The announcement took place at a press conference chaired by Chanakya Chaudhary, vice president, corporate services, Tata Steel.
Coming after the resounding success of the first Tata Steel Jharkhand Literary Meet in 2017, the event this year would see participation from eminent writers and personalities of national renown such as Ruskin Bond, Uday Prakash, Mahadev Toppo, Alok Rai and Rekha Bhardwaj. Ruskin Bond, the author practically every English-speaking child in India has grown up reading, will be present for two sessions — one of which will be on the Bollywood adaptations of his stories.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chaudhary said; “We initiated the first Jharkhand Literary Meet with the belief that a culturally rich region such as Jharkhand must have its very own festival celebrating literature and allied cultural pursuits, like dance, music, recitation, cinema and theatrical performances. The focus has been to engage premier authors, speakers and performance artists from the region and across India.”
“It was our privilege and pleasure to have hosted, in the very first year itself, eminent writers and personalities such as Ashok Vajpeyi, Mark Tully and Sharmila Tagore, among others. We hope to make the Jharkhand Literary Meet an integral part of Ranchi cultural canvas as well as the region’s premier literary event,” he added.
Festival director Malavika Banerjee said, “We are privileged to have iconic author Ruskin Bond to inaugurate and be a part of JLM 2018, especially as this his first-ever visit to Ranchi. Uday Prakash, one of the stalwarts of modern Hindi literature, is another author we are privileged to bring to JLM 2018.”
Banerjee also spoke of the presence of authors from the region who are making a mark on the country’s literary scene, such as Mahadev Toppo, Mohua Maji and Anuj Lugun. “This is part of our continued, strong focus on making the meet a balance between writing from the region and elsewhere,” she added.
The formal inauguration of the event will take place on December 8 at 11:00am, with Ruskin Bond and Uday Prakash doing the honours. The venue for this year’s meet is Audrey House, a gracious colonial-era bungalow near Raj Bhavan.
A curtain-raiser has also been planned at Jamshedpur on December 7, featuring Bond, to flag of the Tata Steel Literary Meet Season, which includes ‘Kalam’, the Kolkata Literary Meet, and BLM, the ‘Bhubaneswar Literary Meet’.
Rekha Bhardwaj’s performance will be another major highlight of the festival. The National Award winning singer would surely be a perfect fit for the Jharkhand Literary Meet, not only because of her reputation as a powerhouse performer but because of her known interest in Hindi / Urdu literature. A session on SD Burman’s music, as explored in an award-winning book, would be an added draw for music-lovers. For the millennials, a session on the advent and mass popularity of web-streamed content aided by platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime will be discussed with the cast of ‘Mirzapur’ (an Amazon Prime original).
A stand-up comedy performance by renowned comic and writer Sorabh Pant and a musical tribute to Begum Akhtar will round up the offerings at JLM 2018.
Ashutosh Chaturvedi, chief editor, representing event media partner ‘Prabhat Khabar’ and Shailesh Verma, chief resident executive, Tata Steel, based at Ranchi were also present on the occasion.
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