By Dr Tania Saili Bakshi
Dehradun, 21 Oct: After flagging off its successful pan-India presence at the Military History and Strategy vertical from New Delhi, the fifth edition of the Valley of Words, International Literature and Art festival, 2021 moves West.
The vibrant city of Vadodara is all set to play host to five authors, each short-listed under the Hindi fiction and Hindi non-fiction vertical sub-titled: ‘Vangmay’, which encapsulates all Literature on a subject.
The National Academy of Indian Railways, the venue partner for the two-day event, will come alive with marathon sessions tailored around shortlisted authors under the two categories, beginning 22 October and ending on the evening of 23 October.
Giving insights into what to expect from the discourse, Lakshmi Shankar Vajpeyi, member of the Board of Governors, Valley of Words, states, “We ensure a unique and soulful experience for our audience, both, virtual and physical. All our sessions are stitched together keeping the authors and their shortlisted books under the Hindi-Fiction and Non-fiction category in mind.”
Gaurav Krishna Bansal, Curator for the session, adds, “Renowned authors from across the country will converge in Vadodara and there will be exchange of ideas, thoughts and the written-word, which spin magic in their books. Live streaming on the internet will make it a global festival.”
An interesting line-up of panellists will be in conversation with authors Alka Sarogi, Mamta Kiran, Sujata Choudhary, Mamta Kalia, Vandana Raj, Neeti Singh alongside Umesh Pant, Pradeep Srivastav, Rajeev Sharma and including an interesting line-up of panellists and moderators such as Dr Sanjeev Chopra, Gaurav Krishna Bansal, Lakshmi Shankar Vajpeyi, Anjum Sharma, Nisha Chandra and Kranti Kanate will bring together stalwarts from Hindi literature onto the dais.
On the first day, a session is being dedicated to the memory of the author, the late Rajkumar Keswani, whose contribution to Hindi literature is unparallel. A cultural evening by Kathak dancer Manisha Gulyani and Tabla artist Mohit Gangani will leave the audience, both, virtual and physical, spell-bound.
Interspersed with dialogues between poets, authors, historians and artists, this vertical will be a bookmark in the pages of the city’s patronage of art, culture and literature.
Viewers can join live on
Day 1: https://youtu.be/jTzG-KPNjao (22 October, 2021, 11 a.m. onwards); Day 2: https://youtu.be/2LNDlOcxIrc
(23 October, 10 a.m. onwards).
