The four-day 66th SAARCLiterature Festival, which brought together a plethora of writers, poets, scholars, artists, and cultural thinkers from all SAARC countries, except Pakistan, concluded in the national capital.
The festival was organised from November 9 to 12.
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“At a time when the world is increasingly fragmented, the SAARC Literature Festival offers a rare platform for dialogue and understanding. It brings together the collective wisdom of South Asia’s literary and artistic minds, reminding audiences that cultural continuity runs deeper than national boundaries. For readers, thinkers, and peacebuilders alike, this festival is not just an event — it is an evolving movement towards unity through the arts,” a release quoted Padmashri Ajeet Caur, president, Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), as saying.
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The festival, organized by FOSWAL, saw the presence of distinguished diplomats like Mahishini Colonne (Sri Lanka), Shankar Prasad Sharma (Nepal), Riaz Hamidullah (Bangladesh), and Aishath Azeema (Maldives), among others.
The four-day festival weaved in exhilarating sessions celebrating Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi poetry. Popular names like Syeda Hameed, Moly Joseph, Hari Maya Gurung, Prof Abhi Subedi, Kamrul Haasan, Prof Shehpar Rasool, Rehman Musawwir, Rawail Singh and others marked the occasion with their remarkable poetry.
The Urdu poetry session, in particular, had many poems talking about the socio-political reality of the times we live in. Issues like acid attack, secularism, Islamophobia etc found resonance in the poems presented at the event.
Professor Shehpar Rasool, former vice chairman, Delhi Urdu Academy, recited a couple of lines on the need to see through the divisive ideologies prevalent in the society.
“Baddua usne mujhe di thi, dua di maine,
Usne deewar uthai thi, gira di maine”
(He cursed me, but I sent prayers his way
He raised a wall against me, but I chose to dismantle it)
“Usne sailab ki tasvir bana bheji thi,
usi kagaz se naav bana di maine”
(He sent me a portrait of despair, but I made a boat of hope out of it)
“Humare naam k aage tum apna naam likh dete,
tumhare naam k peeche humara naam ho jata”
(You wrote your name in front of mine, and I am happy to be in your shadow)
Professor Rasool, who is associated with Jamia Milia Islamia, has written two books on poetry ‘Sadaf Samandar’, and ‘Sukhan-siraab’. ‘Chasm-e-dauraan’, and ‘Paimaana-e-sifat’ are his books on prose.
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