80th Marathi Literary Meet in Nagpur from Feb 2

Nagpur, Jan 17: The stage is set for the 80th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi Literary Meet) to be held in Nagpur for three days from February 2 this year.

Speaking to newsmen here yesterday, Manohar Mhaisalkar, Working President of the Sammelan, said Union Minister for Energy Sushilkumar Shinde will formally inaugurate the meet here on February 2. Vice Chancellor of the Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University Dr Namvar Singh would be the guest of honour, he said.

Veteran journalist and litterateur Arun Sadhu has already been elected the president of the meet, and would chair the inaugural session, Mhaisalkar said.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil would be the chief guest at the concluding session to be held on February 4, Mr Mhaisalkar added. Maharashtra Minister for Cultural Affairs Ashok Chavan and veteran communist leader A B Bardhan would be the guests of honour, he said.

Mr Mhaisalkar said that a unique feature of the meet was a separate session on various aspects of writing by women. Besides the main session, there would be seminars on women writers and women readers, and a recital by poetesses. ''This was an effort to set a new precedent of holding separate sessions for various branches of literature,'' he said. Another initiative was a separate session to discuss various aspects of the speech to be delivered by the Chairman at the inauguration, he added.

Another interesting feature would be the paintings by 800 children on a creation each of 80 prominent Marathi poets, he said.

The inaugural session would be preceded by a 'granth dindi' (procession of books) and the opening of a book exhibition. The meet was being held in Nagpur after a gap of 74 years, with the last one having been held in 1933, he added.

A total of 27 sessions were planned to be held during the meet at two different venues, in close vicinity of the venue for the book exhibition. The main venue had been named after noted poets Atmaram Raoji Deshpande alias 'Anil' and his wife Kusumavati Deshpande, the other venue after feminist and writer of Vidarbha Gita Sane, and the venue for the book exhibition after Bhauji Daftari. The three venues together had been named G T ('Ga Tryan') Madkholkar Nagar, after the veteran Journalist and Author, he added.

UNI