SAARC Festival of Literature

The SAARC Festival of Literature 2011 was organised by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (SAARC Apex Body) and Ministry of External Affairs on 25, 26 and 27 March 2011 in New Delhi.  Ajeet Cour, the President of Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, and Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, invited Ren Lyangsong Tamsang, President, Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, Headquarters Kalimpong to participate in the SAARC Festival of Literature in New Delhi.  It was a gathering of well known, creative poets, writers, critics, artists, translators, thinkers, philosophers etc. from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India.  Ren Lyangsong Tamsang was one of the delegates representating India in the SAARC Festival of Literature.
The following very important and interesting programmes were included in the Festival:
a.  Paying homage to the great poets of the region:
i. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
ii.  Nazul Islam
iii.  Faiz and
iv.  Ghalib
b.  Academic Seminars on the following subjects were presented and discussed:
i.  Contemporary Creativity and Political-Social Conflicts
ii.  Voices of the Oppressed and the Excluded
iii.  Literacy Legacy of Tagore
iv.  Nazrul Islam, Faiz and Ghalib
v.  New Voices of Young Writers
vi.  Literature and Ground Realities

The First Lady of India, Sardarni Gursharan Kaur inaugurated the Festival of Literature on 25 March 2011.  Among a host of poets,writers,thinkers, the following names come to my mind:
Karan Singh, Mahasveta Devi, Abid Hussain, Shahyar, Kapila Vatsyayan, Abhi N. Subedi (Nepal), Mani Shanker Aiyar, Sitakant Mahapatra, Arpana Caur, Ibrahim Waheed (Maldives), Dr G.N. Devy, K.Satchidananda, Nabaneeta Sen, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, Syed Manzoorul Islam (Bangladesh), Mushirul Hasan, Manmohan Singh Mitwal, Partaw Naderi(Afghanistan) Tshering Dorji (Bhutan), Premini Amerasinge (Sri Lanka), Jharna Rehman (Bangladesh), Neelam Ahmed Basheer (Pakistan), Lutfa Hanum Salima Begum, Prof Alok Bhalla and many others.
The Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature brought creative and peace-loving people, artists, activists, writers,poets from all walks of life including indigenous Tribes, Dalits from the Indian Sub-Continents to join hands to create and write for a new and better Sub-Continent to live in with peace, love and prosperity.
The original indigenous Lepcha tribes of Darjeeling District, West Bengal have now many good friends in the SAARC region.




A Special Reporter