This post is more than a week overdue. I was to write about
the second day of the BLF’15 but got caught up with other writing deadlines.
Today I downloaded my Certificate of Completion for the How
writers Write Fiction 2015 conducted by the University of Iowa’s International
Writing Program. Seven weeks of rigorous work has paid off. This is the first
writing course I’ve taken. I had enrolled for IGNOU’s creative writing program a
few years ago but never saw it through.
Now to a recap of the second day of the BLF’15. The first talk
of the day was by Anuj Dhar who is an expert on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. He
claims (evidence in terms of files that need to be declassified) to have strong
reasons to believe that Netaji died in Russia. He wielded the questions with
great authority. Wonder what the truth really is.
Tipu Sultan was the hot topic of the next debate. It was well
moderated by Maya Mirchandani of NDTV fame. Vikram Sampath, Prof. Hanuru--a
historian, and a politician each from BJP and Congress provided both information
and entertainment. I felt history is better left to historians; our politicians
and their viewpoints definitely sway according to the vote bank.
The next talk (after I ate a pricey Masala dosa) was on
short stories. I went to listen because Kulpreet Yadav, the editor of ‘Open
Road Review’ was on the panel. ORR is a good blog with excellent content. He came
into writing from a defence background.
I listened to a few authors talk about their work (with the
moderator talking much more than the panelists). Poile Sengupta was kind enough
to caution the audience about Macular Degeneration which she suffers from. How
terrible for a reader or writer to have problems with eyesight.
Then I spent three hours listening to the shortlisted
candidates who pitched their ideas at the LITMart to publishers. ( I too had
been longlisted but didn’t make it to the shortlist.)
Every literary festival I attend, puts me a few steps onward
in my writing journey. Loads of resolutions for the NEW YEAR.
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