Chennai Literary Fest to see more student participation

Chennai: Sahitya Akademi Award winning English playwright Mahesh Dattani, the latest Akademi Award nominee R.N. Joe D’ Cruz, In­dian writer Rizio Yohannan Raj and Tamil writer S. Ramakrishnan are among those who will take part in a first-of-its-kind Chennai Literary Festival (CLF) from January 9 to 11.

The festival, involving the participation of 20 city colleges and 1.5 lakh students, will  try to promote both Tamil and English literature.

“A literary festival, involving all sections of people, was missing in Chennai, which is the knowledge capital of the country. So we embarked on this new venture,” CLF chairman G. Olivannan told reporters on Thursday

He said that the event was intended to renew the habit of reading among people, especially students.

“Today’s children are not reading books anymore. They all dabble in electronic gadgets. So we want to develop the reading habit among them and also provide a stage to the public for discussion on literature from a local to global perspective,” he added.

Olivannan further said that the event, which was planned to be an annual affair, would bring out new creative work and be a platform for cross-pollination of ideas, taking traditional literary works to the next generation. “Our traditional literary forms, such as prose, poetry, novel, drama and theatre, are losing their importance because of new media,” he remarked.

CLF secretary Hemalatha Rajan said that the response from college students was overwhelming. “We have students from Tiruttani and Ponneri participating in the events. Unlike other literary festivals, we involved college students for them to have an exposure to cultural events,” she added.

The three-day event is packed with several workshops on theatre, review writing, story telling, script writing, social media, tribal literature, Semmozhi Illakiyam and street plays, apart from forums on employability and higher education online that would be held in different city colleges.

Governor Dr K. Rosaiah will inaugurate the event on January 9 at Madras University and the valedictory function will be held on January 11 at Ethiraj College for Women.

Quaide-E-Millath College, Queen Mary’s College, Dr MGR Janaki Arts and Science College, Bharathi Women’s College, JBAS College and SDNB College will also host some of the events.

Chennai literary association wants to take fest to masses

S. Sujatha |?DC

Chennai: It was 11 months ago that a common love for literature brought together 19 people- publishers, lawyers, auditors, builders and corporates — to discuss the possibility of conducting a literary festival in Chennai.

They decided to involve college students to take the reading habit to the masses.

The Chennai Literary Association was formed in November 2013 and now there is a literary festival taking place in a few days.

“The idea to hold such a festival germinated last February and people came out with different concepts.

In August, we came close to dropping the project as a media house was holding an annual literary event.

But then, our team was determined to do something different and we hit upon the model of taking the event to the colleges and involving all sections of people.

We, in fact, used the Chennai Music Festival concept where all the sabhas, institutions and individuals hold events and make the festival a big success,” said G. Olivannan, chairman of the newly formed Chennai Literary Association.

Auditor G. Balasubra­hma­n­yam, the oldest member of the association, was as excited as his younger colleagues when he said that he was looking forward to the success of the festival.

“It is our maiden effort and it would take a lot more to attract literary luminaries. Once we create a track record, more people will get attracted to our festival,” he said.

The event would mostly be held during the same period every year when the climate in Chennai is cool. He also said that unlike the Jaipur Festival, the Chen­nai event’s uniqueness is the involvement of college students.

Ethiraj College for Wo­m­en’s associate professor in English Dr J. Man­gayar­ka­rasi, R.J. Kumaravel, MD, Ne­oteric Building Sol­u­ti­ons, Hemalatha Rajan, dir­e­ctor, Ma Foi and Madras Un­iversity professor S. Ar­m­strong are among those who are keen to make a change in the society.

“St­u­d­ents are overburdened wi­th academics and other wo­r­kshops. But there is a lot of space for literary activities and we want to promote both Tamil and English literature among students,” said Dr Armstrong.

While the association is a closed group now, membership will open after the literary festival.