Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob
The Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob, or ABSU, is an annual Bengali literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Kolkata in West Bengal every November. It was founded in 2015 by Oxford Bookstore in association with Patra Bharati, and after completing four editions, will host its 5th edition in 2019. The festival director is Mr. Swagat Sengupta, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Bookstore. Being India's first[1] Bangla literary festival, the festival aims to encourage reading of Bengali books and spreading of Bengali tradition and culture in every corner of the world.
2015
The inaugural edition[2] of the festival was held at the Oxford Bookstore Kolkata[3][not in citation given] on 10 October 2015. It witnessed participation from eminent authors like Sankha Ghosh, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sanjib Chattopadhyay, Samaresh Mazumdar, Imdadul Haq Milon, Honourable Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata Janab Zokey Ahad, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Anish Deb, Ranjan Bandhopadhyay, Pracheta Gupta, Bani Basu, Srijato and Subodh Sarkar among others. In a panel discussion called ‘Cinemar Sahitya Na Sahityer Cinema?' film directors Goutam Ghosh, Aniruddha Roychowdhury (Tony), Suman Mukhopadhyay and Mainak Bhoumik participated along with veteran actor Barun Chanda.
2016
The second edition[4] of the festival was held on 21 and 22 October 2016 at the Oxford Bookstore on Park Street, Kolkata. The festival was announced with a pioneering half day literary heritage tour of the city with a group of 70 – 80 people where the participants visited the residence and work spaces of Bangla icons. Renowned writers from West Bengal and Bangladesh graced the festival with their presence, including Sankha Ghosh, Sanjib Chattopadhyay, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Bani Basu, Nabaneeta Deb Sen, Ranjan Bandhopadhyay and Bangladeshi author Selina Hossain. Some of the highlights of the 2016 edition were cosplay of iconic Bangla literary characters; Graffiti in Bangla; Bangla literary quiz, tracking the evolution of Bangla literature through various forms of writings; discussion on role of detective stories & mysteries in Bangla literature; impact of social media on Bangla literature and online short story and poetry writing contest in Bangla.
2017
The third edition[5][6] of the festival was a three-day affair, held on 3, 4 and 5 November 2017. This time the venue was shifted from inside the bookstore to the nearby Apeejay Lawn to accommodate more visitors, considering the growing popularity of the festival. Eminent writers like Shankha Ghosh, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Imdadul Haq Milon, Sanjib Chattopadhay, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Samaresh Majumdar, Bratya Basu and Srijato attended the festival. Some of the interesting topics discussed during the festival were "How literature's detectives have changed on the big screen"; "If radio jockeys are taking Bengali language forward"; "Do you believe comics are literature too?"; "Hero on Facebook, Zero in reality"; "Discussion on the Bengali traveler", "Discussion on the foodie in every Bengali" among others.
2018
The fourth[7][8][9] edition of Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob was held at Jorasankho Thakurbari, the birthplace of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore supported by Rabindra Bharati University on 16, 17 and 18 November 2018. The specially curated sessions ranged from heritage, partition, limericks, sports, music, cinema and audio of Bangla language. Among the distinguished speakers at the 2018 edition were Shankha Ghosh, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sanjib Chattopadhyay, Samaresh Mazumdar, Mazharul Islam from Bangladesh, Anish Deb, Himadrikishore Dasgupta, Pracheto Gupta, Usha Uthup, Anindya Chattopadhyay, Arindam Ganguly, Kheyali Dastidar and Srijato Bandopadhyay.
2019
The fifth edition of Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob will be held on 22, 23 and 24 November 2019 at Jorasankho Thakurbari, the birthplace of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore supported by Rabindra Bharati University. On 28 June 2019, Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob launched its first theme music[10][11][12] at Oxford Bookstore Kolkata. Renowned musician Surojit Chatterjee composed the theme music[13] using Tabla, Sitar and Flute to encompass the essence of Bengal and its literature.
References
- ↑ ভারতের প্রথম বাংলা সাহিত্য উৎসব– News18 Bengali. bengali.news18.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Bengali literary festival to be held this Saturday". Hindustan Times. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Books Special! Why bookstores will never die…#BrunchBookChallenge". Hindustan Times. 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Leading writers to deliberate in 'Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob". Business Standard India. PTI. 2016-10-21. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ Pandey, Jhimli Mukherjee. "Bengali lit festival to explore changing times". The Times of India. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Bangla literary festival begins". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Bengali lit fest explores changing tastes, language evolution". millenniumpost.in. PTI. 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ শুরু হতে চলেছে বাংলা সাহিত্য উৎসব, তুঙ্গে পাঠকদের উৎসাহ - Bengali Literature Festival is all set to begin | ফেমিনা বাংলা. www.femina.in (in Bengali). Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ সাহিত্য উৎসবের সাতকাহন. Sangbad Biswa Bangla (in Bengali). 2018-11-23. Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ বাংলা সাহিত্য উৎসবে থিম মিউজিক নিয়ে এল এপিজে. Kolkata24x7 (in Bengali). 2019-06-28. Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ "Bengali Literary Festival Launches Theme Music for its Fifth Edition". News18. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ 'এপিজে বাংলা সাহিত্য উৎসব'এর প্রথম থিম মিউজিক লঞ্চ. unishkuri.in (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
- ↑ Roy, Rahul (2019-06-29). এপিজে বাংলা সাহিত্য উৎসবের আকর্ষণীয় থিম সং নিয়ে এল সুরজিতের হাত ধরে. bengali.oneindia.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 2019-07-05.
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