The Asian Literary Society organised its 3rd ALS LIT FEST on 20th and 21s February 2021.
The celebration started with a welcome address by Mr. Manoj Krishnan (Founder, ALS). Guests of Honour, Ms. Meenakshi Natarajan (Eminent Author & Former Member of Parliament) and Dr. Pariksith Singh (Eminent Author & CEO, Access Health Care Physicians, Florida) graced the occasion with their august presence.
Padma Shri Malti Joshi (Eminent Author) and Dr. Sarojini Tanhaa (Eminent Poet) shared their views about women in modern literature. Dr. Amarendra Khatua (Former Secretary, MEA) and Prof. Nandini Sahu (Director, School of Foreign Languages, IGNOU) discussed the decolonization of English literature.
Mr. Amit Dasgupta (Former Indian Diplomat& Author), Mr. Sridhar Balan (Literary Columnist & Author), Mr. Vasudev Murti (Managing Partner, Focal Concepts&Author), and Mr. Prakash Iyer (Founder-CEO, Leadership Works&Author) spoke about realism over imagination: creative non-fiction. There was also a panel discussion on “Blending Facts with Fiction” in which panelists Ms. Bina Pillai (Eminent Author), Mr. Suhail Mathur (Eminent Literary Agent), Mr. Neil D’Silva (Eminent Author), and Mr. Maanas Lal (Eminent Author& Artist) participated.
Ms. Merry Barua (Founder, Action for Autism), Mr. Kumar Vikram (Editor, National Book Trust), Ms. Manobina Chakroborty (Founder, I for Inclusion Global), and Mr. Mihir Pillai ( Voice of Special Need Individuals) presented their views on ” Representation of People with Special Needs in Literature “. A live session was also organized on “Charting the Course of Kid LIT” in which Ms. Santhini Govindan (Eminent Author), Ms. Kiren Babal (Eminent Author), Dr. Sudha Subramaniam (Eminent Author), and Ms. Meena Mishra (CEO, The Impish Lass Publishing House) talked about various aspects of Children Literature.
Another highlight of ALS LIT FEST was the announcement of the winners of the Indian Women Achievers Awards, Indian Women Rising Star Awards, ALS Annual Book Awards by Mr. Manoj Krishnan. Mr. Sudarshan Kcherry (CEO, Authorspress ) congratulated all winners in his session. In this two days event, several eminent poets from all over India and abroad held the audience spellbound by their poetry recitation.
Ms. Anita Chand (Administrator, ALS), Dr. Aparna Bagwe (Administrator, ALS), Ms. Zeba Tabassum (Program Coordinator), Dr. Bishakha sarma (Administrator, ALS) Ms. Bhavna Mishra (Program Coordinator), and Ms. Lippi Parida (Administrator, ALS) moderated these sessions.
The 3rd ALS LIT FEST was a literary extravaganza where many shining stars in the world of literature congregated to share their ideas and creative talents, in enthusiastic support of ALS and its initiatives.
