AMU Literary Festival
AMU Literary Festival | |
 Logo of the AMU Literary Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Literary festival |
| Frequency | Annually, Feb-March |
| Institute | Aligarh Muslim University |
| Organised By | University Debating and Literary Club(UDLC), AMU |
| Dates for 2017 | 3–5 March |
| Venue | Cultural Education Centre, AMU |
| Location | Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh |
| Country | India |
| Patron | Prof. Tariq Mansoor |
| Years Active | 2015–present |
| Activities | Workshops, Lectures, Interaction sessions, Discussions |
| Participants | Open for all |
 | facebook.com/amulitfest |
AMU Literary Festival is an annual celebration of all the things from the vast world of literature by the Central University of India, Aligarh Muslim University. The Cultural Education Center(CEC)[1] of AMU which embodies the multicultural and diverse spirit of the university, propitiates art and literature holding true to the envisioned nature of the university by its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The University Debating and Literary Club (UDLC) has been organizing this event for the past three years where CEC becomes the nexus of all the panels and speeches by illustrious names of journalism and literature. Some of the previous invitees include news anchor and author Rajdeep Sardesai, poet Keki N. Daruwalla, politician Mani Shankar Aiyar and independent journalist Rana Ayyub.
AMU Literary Festival is organised exclusively by the students of the University with no or minimum corporate sponsorship and focuses on themes such as Resistance Literature and Journalism, art as a means of social change, etc.
This year, the third fest titled AMU Literary Festival 2017 is all set to rejuvenate the art of literature with an inspiring and diverse celebration of literature and mass communication, in all its forms.
About AMU Literary Festival
A Literary Festival organized each year by students of Aligarh Muslim University, AMU Literary Festival, is a festival celebrating art, literature and social change. This one of a kind literary festival hosted by a University shall present before you a host of writers, poets, journalists and filmmakers to discuss a plethora of issues pertaining to diverse the fields of art. The diverse range of events that shall be presented before you shall include panel discussions, meet the author sessions, poetry reading and their ilk.
AMU Literary Festival is the University Debating and Literary Club’s flagship event. Drawing intellectuals and authors from across the country, the previous two iterations of AMU Lit Fest have been a smorgasbord of fascinating panels and speeches. With journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai talking about media, activists such as Paranjoy Guha Thakurta talking about crony capitalism and novelists like de:Chandrahas Choudhury having panel discussions about the Indian novel; the Festival is a diverse celebration of literature and mass communication, in all its forms. The festival attracts audience from all across the city, transcending the boundary of the university. Previous invitees include the poet Keki N. Daruwalla, politician Mani Shankar Aiyar and independent journalist Rana Ayyub. With people from diverse areas coming together and talking about the issues of the day and age, the festival is truly a melting pot of culture. Workshops to teach students about the ins and outs of various forms of writing and public speaking are also conducted as a part of the festival, which rounds out the educational experience.
The University Debating and Literary Club (UDLC)[2]
University Debating and Literary Club(UDLC) | |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Institute | Aligarh Muslim University |
| Working under | Cultural Education Centre, AMU |
| Location | Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh |
| Country | India |
| Coordinator | Prof. F.S. Sherani |
| Mentor | Dr S Siraj Ajmali |
| President | Dr Mohibbul Huq |
| Secretary | Aasif Akhlaque |
| Members | AMU Students |
| facebook.com/udlc.amu |
 | twitter.com/udlc_amu |
 | facebook.com/udlc.amu |
.png){kind=logo} | YouTube UDLC |
 | ulc.amu@gmail.com |
History
University Literary Club (ULC) was established in 1973. The club in reality is the extension of the oldest literary Society of AMU, the "Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO) Literary Society" founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan himself. Wasi Ahmad Nomani was appointed as the first student secretary of the club. The club is very vibrant and organises many literary programmes throughout the year. "All India Sir Syed Memorial Debate" is the main event of the club. Other events like the "Inter-Hall Debate Competition", Quiz programs, "Bait-bazi", and Essay Writing competitions are also organized by the ULC round the year. The University Literary Club (ULC) was rechristened as University Debating Literary Club (UDLC) in 2015.
About
The University Debating and Literary Club is the centre of Aligarh Muslim University’s literary endeavours. The club aspires to produce public speaking and writing talent of the highest order, and in recent years, has been extremely successful in doing so. All these activities are held in congruence with various events that the UDLC conducts, such as various workshops in different literary fields, lectures on various current issues by eminent personalities, and the club’s flagship event, the widely acclaimed AMU Literary Festival, which draws authors and intellectuals from across the country.
Regular forums are held at UDLC weekly, round the year.
List of forums
- Alternative debating forum – Parliamentary debating, Model UN, Youth parliament etc.
- Recitation forum – poetry/prose in various languages.
- Advanced and Beginners Public speaking forum
- Creative writing forum
- Journalistic writing forum
- Beginners writing forum
- Quiz Forum
- Book club
- Urdu promotion forum
- Group discussion forum
Members of UDLC represent the university at various zonal and national level competitions and have kept the AMU flag high.
AMU Literary Festival 2017
Dates of Lit Fest 2017 - 3, 4 and 5 March
The Aligarh Muslim University organises its Literary Festival with a sole purpose of rejuvenating the art of literature. The idea of the festival for us is to make young readers and writers interact with established writers and get inspired from the crème de la crème themselves.
The festival aims at interacting with literary aficionados and intellectuals and getting sensitized to initiate a dialogue in our own lives. It is an attempt to bring literature out from the books and in to our daily lives. And thus they intend to invite speakers and writers who are doing away with regressive ideologies and breaking the shackles of conventions which have been holding our society back. The festival is a daunting initiative for the students as it is not funded by corporate houses as most of the other literary festivals are. Such commercialized festivals stick to discussions on certain genres and do not address topics out of certain boundaries. However, AMU Literary festival recognizes the rising need of voicing issues which are deleterious to our society. Everyone is invited to enjoy the tehzeeb and culture of the university and the relaxing comfort of our hospitality in the best possible way.
What can you expect at the AMU literary festival?
Panel discussions on the issues which are often sidelined, topics which NEED to be taken up.
Eminent guests, experts, authors, leading journalists, artists. This year the central theme will be "What is literature"?
Expert Workshops for students for parallel learning.
Cultural evenings - fair share of musical performances & comedy! They'll keep you entertained while enriching your intellectual experience.
- List of Guests in 2017
| Name | Field | |
|---|---|---|
| Swara Bhaskar | Actress | |
| Ashok Vajpeyi | Poet in Hindi, essayist, literary-cultural critic and a former civil servant | |
| Prof. Manoj K Jha | Professor of Social Work | |
| Aditi Rao | Poet, activist and essayist. | |
| Zafar Anjum | Author and journalist | |
| Tushar Gandhi | Journalist | |
| Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar | Medical officer and activist | |
| Omair Ahmad | Writer | |
| Hilal Ahmed[3] | Editor, writer, teacher and producer | |
| de:Chandrahas Choudhury | Literary critic and novelist |
AMU Literary Festival 2.0 (2016)
The University Debating and Literary Club, Cultural Education Center (CEC), Aligarh Muslim University organized its literary festival from 4 to 6 March 2017 at the CEC complex.[4]
Celebrated novelists, poets, historians, scholars, journalists and playwrights from different parts of India were part of the contrasting program of the festival this year. The Program included a series of solo talks, panel discussions, lectures, book signings, interactive workshops as well as Q&A sessions.
The speakers in the event included a unique convention of eminent personalities like Keki N. Daruwalla, Farhat Ehsas, and Nivedita Menon.
In the workshop on creative writing, Ms Mariam Kareem Ahlawat talked about the coming out of inner rhythm, when people write in their mother tongues. She added that writing in mother tongues is natural, whereas people often make compromises while writing in non-mother tongue languages.
Nomaan Shauque, Farhat Ehsas and Sarwat Khan took the first panel of the day on the topic of 'Samaaji tabdeeli ke liye adab ka istemal' (use of literature for social change). The panel discussed about 'respect as a way for bringing change and not losing our identities'.
Rana Safavi took the last panel of the Literary Festival on the topic 'Interpreting 19th century Delhi'. The panelists discussed, how Akbar is portrayed as a secular ruler while Aurangzeb had far more Rajput subjects in his court than Akbar ever did.
The AMU Literary Festival 2.0 was a three-day event that hosted guests like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Mani Shankar Aiyar and other eminent personalities.
- List of Guests
| Name | Field | Video link |
|---|---|---|
| Rajdeep Sardesai | News anchor and author | Watch video - 1, 2, 3 |
| Paranjoy Guha Thakurta | Journalist and political commentator | Watch video - 1, 2 |
| Keki N. Daruwalla | Poet and writer | Watch video - 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Mani Shankar Aiyar | Diplomat and politician | Watch video - 1, 2 |
| de:Chandrahas Choudhury | Literary critic and novelist | |
| Mariam Karim Ahlawat | Teacher, freelance editor and a writer | |
| Satyarth Nayak | Author, script-writer & journalist | |
| Nivedita Menon | Feminist writer and professor | Watch video - 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Rana Safavi[5] | Author and historian | |
| Sarwat Khan | Contemporary Urdu writer |
AMU Literary Festival 2015
A.M.U literary fest 2015 was a three-day felicitation of literature organized by the students of UDLC. Starting from 20 March, this event was set sail by a lecture delivered by Jerry Pinto, focusing on the pressing need of the hour to tell stories, titled "Why we should tell our stories". The following three days of the fest were bestowed with panel discussions on a variety of themes. Many honorary personalities from the field of literature and journalism added gravitas to these discussions by their humble presence. Probably the only fest in the history of Indian literary festivals organized entirely by the students, the AMU lit fest was and still remains an exemplar initiative to rescue literary festivals from the impact of commercialization. Therefore, the fest's primary purpose is to emphasize the role of literature to uncover the unspoken truths of its contemporary society. This daunting task at the hands of the students of AMU was very well received and welcomed with open arms by the guests, who, in reality are a testimony to the fact that, the soul of literature still continues to fight for its existence. The festival covered a myriad of literary as well as social and political matters that needed a pen to voice their resistance. Senior AMU Literary Club members, debated on the topic - 'Footnotes', 'Pamphlets' and 'Posters'; campus literature as a means of student's politics and the challenges faced during election conduction.
This canvass was further widened by invitees like Dr. Saamdu Chettri[6] who at present oversees the Gross National Happiness (GNH) commission and has taken on personal responsibility for the construction of a center dedicated to improving the wellbeing of the nation’s citizens. The collection of poetry 'FRACTALS', composed by Sudeep Sen was launched at the session "Reading conversation and Q&A: Indian English poetry and its recent developments".
Several other important topics like effect of change in Bollywood culture on poetry, the evolution of poetry with newer forms of media and the inappropriateness of calling poetry a dying art were debated by the panelists. The students attending the session took great interest in the conversation and put up inquiring questions about the subject. 'Dwelling into the Future; Science Fiction in Indian English Novels' was discussed by eminent writer Sami Ahmad. Defining science fiction, he categorized it as an 'Impact of technology on human behavior'. He said that "Science fiction is more revolutionary than reactionary" and also discussed his political thriller 'Red Jihad'. 'Counter Terrorism and Custodial Deaths; Looking into a Darker India' was also discussed. 'Kafkaland' author Manisha Sethy took over an interactive session with the students and discussed a wide continuum of issues ranging from radical brunt and mass deception to institutional mechanism.
Independent journalist Rana Ayyub attracted a diverse audience of various age groups. Her topic was well debated by the students and teachers.
The last session on 'Bollywood culture and society' had renowned lyricist Kausar Munir who talked on the current scenario of the Bollywood songs lyrics. Quoting example of Gulzar Sahab who wrote songs like Bismil, she emphasized on the fact that writers have to keep redefining themselves to stay in market by unifying their real creative art with the popular public demand. She also answered queries from students during the session. Some other prolific names of literature, at the fest were Prof Purushottam Agrawal, Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, Dr Radha Chakravarty Aseem Ahmed Abbasee, Yassen Anwer and Hilal Ahmad. The discourse varied from talks on Poetry Revival to Literature translation, from Counter Terrorism to Science Fiction.
- List of guests
| Name | Field | Video link |
|---|---|---|
| Jerry Pinto | Writer and journalist | Watch video - 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Sudeep Sen | Poet and editor | |
| Syed Asghar Wajahat | Scholar, novelist, independent documentary filmmaker and television scriptwriter | |
| Rakhshanda Jalil | Writer, critic and literary historian | |
| Radha Chakravarty[7] | Writer, critic and translator | |
| Prof. Purushottam Agrawal | Academician, novelist, literary critique, theologian, secularist, columnist and broadcaster | |
| Aseem Ahmed Abbasee | Lyricst poet and creative writer | |
| Yaseen Anwer[8] | Multilingual poet | |
| Kausar Munir | Lyricist and screenwriter | |
| Rana Ayyub | Journalist and independent columnist | Watch video - 1, 2 |
| Sami Ahmad Khan | Author | |
| Manisha Sethi | Teacher and author | |
| Hilal Ahmed[3] | Editor, writer, teacher and producer | |
| Dr. Saamdu Chettri[6] | Head of first Gross National Happiness Centre[9] |
See also
References
- ↑ "About Cultural Education Centre, AMU". www.amu.ac.in.
- ↑ "=Literary and Debating Club (UDLC)". www.amu.ac.in. Aligarh Muslim University.
- 1 2 "About Hilal Ahmed".
- ↑ "AMU literary festival 2.0". www.amu.ac.in. AMU. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ↑ "Rana Safavi at AMU Lit Fest 2.0".
- 1 2 "Dr. Saamdu Chettri, Executive Director, GNH Centre Bhutan, was invited to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as the Valedictory Guest for their first ever literary festival". www.gnhcentrebhutan.org/. Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
- ↑ "Radha Chakravarty".
- ↑ "About Yaseen Anwer".
- ↑ Dr. Saamdu Chettri (25 July 2015). "The turbulent life story of Bhutan's happiness guru". BBC. Candida Beveridge BBC World Service, Bhutan. Retrieved 25 July 2015.