News Desk, News Nation 360 : On the second day of the Apeejay Literary Festival Kolkata, speakers and attendees discussed a wide range of subjects, including current events, politics, art, design, gastronomy, environment, and climate. The events took place at Allen Park, Oxford Bookstore, Alliance Française du Bengale, and the Tollygunge Club. The day at Allen Park started with the "Translating the Icons" session, in which Prasun Roy, who preferred Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay's horror stories, and Lopamudra Maitra talked about Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury's whimsical tales. They discussed their experiences translating two well-known writers from Bengal. The session was led by Jashodhara Chakraborti. In the subsequent session, "Blowin' in the Wind," author Sam Miller—the author of Migrants—discussed the pervasive phenomenon of displacement and migration. He and Ruchir Joshi were having a conversation. In the third and final session of the day, titled "Green Earth," environmental artist Louise Fowler-Smith and ornithologist and environmentalist Tara Gandhi successfully discussed their respective bodies of work about climate change. The Australian Consulate-General in Kolkata provided support for the session, which was led by Bittu Sahgal. In keeping with the translation theme, translators Aruna Chakravarti, Vishes Kothari, Arshia Sattar, and Urvashi Butalia talked about the biggest obstacles they faced while translating in the "Show and Tell" session. During the "All in the Family" session, Bijoya Sawian and Manish Gaekwad relived their family memoirs and took a nostalgic trip down memory lane with Kavita Punjabi. In the following session, "Climate Fiction Moves," Bittu Sahgal, Rajat Chaudhuri, Gargi Rawat, and Dia Mirza (virtually) discussed how literature, films, and other
forms of art can promote environmental awareness. This session was led by Neela Majumdar. In "Table Talk: On Building a Culture of Food," Shaun Kenworthy was joined in conversation by Sonal Ved, Maria Goretti, Shalini Modi, and Julia Roberts. Rahul Shivshankar and Chandan Gowda raised awareness about the India everyone believes in a session called "Crossroads" where they discussed the concepts in their respective books. Monideepa Banerjie was the person they were speaking with. The next session, which was also led by Monideepa Banerjie, featured veteran Indian politician P. Chidambaram talking about his recently published book, "A Watershed Year." The Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize shortlist was revealed at the Allen Park final session, "In Graphic Detail." Alka Pande, Kunal Basu, and Anja Riedeberger (virtually) were among the jurors. A discussion about an upcoming graphic translation of Saadat Hasan Manto's work was held by Pinaki De, Debkumar Mitra, and Harsho Mohan Chattoraj as the day came to an end. Day 2 of the Oxford Junior Literary Festival saw a "Meet the Author" session and a "Words in Action" Workshop, in the meantime. On this occasion of Day 2, Anjum Katyal, Director, AKLF, commented that the whole second day of AKLF covered a wide range of pertinent subjects. They held discussions on translation, current events and the country, migration and displacement, and climate change and the environment. Graphic novels, family memoirs, and comics about food culture were also on display. It was fascinating to hear luminaries like P. Chidambaram discussing current affairs and the country, Arshia Sattar, Aruna Chakravarti, and others holding an adda on the significance of translation today, and Dia Mirza, Bittu Sahgal, Tara Gandhi, Gargi Rawat, Rajat Chaudhuri, sci-fi writer, and Louise Fowler-Smith, environmental artist, discussing climate change and the environment.
Pic - Courtesy
