Kolkata: Bengali lit fest explores changing tastes, language evolution
Specially curated sessions on "changing literary taste" and factors influencing it were highlights of a Bengali lit fest at Jorasanko Thakurbari, Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home in Kolkata. The three-day 'Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob', which began on Friday, discussed issues ranging from heritage and partition to sports and cinema, highlighting West Bengal's contributions and its literature in an ever-changing world, its director Swagat Sengupta said.
Sessions curated for fest, keeping younger generation's interests in mind
Altogether, 20 sessions have been curated for the fest, keeping in mind interests of the younger generation, Sengupta said. Tridib Chatterjee, General Secretary of 'Publishers and Booksellers Guild', said luminaries from different walks of life, including writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, poet Shankha Ghosh, and prominent filmmakers Arindam Sil and Kaushik Ganguly, reflected on the appeal of Bengali literature and the evolution of language over time.
Jorasanko Thakurbari, an apt avenue for fest
Rabindra Bharati University Vice-Chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, who played a host at the event, noted Jorasanko Thakurbari was an "apt venue" for the fest. "We're very happy that this year, the lit fest which made its debut in 2015, is being held at Tagore's abode at Jorasanko, where the bard, the first Asian recipient of Nobel Prize for Literature, was born," Chaudhury said.
