The Asian Literary Society organised the 3rd Asian Literary Confluence with great fanfare on October 23, 2020.
Meenakshi Natarajan (eminent author and former Member of Parliament) delivered the inaugural address. In light of the present Covid-19 scenario, this meeting was conducted online. Interactive sessions with Dr Pariksith Singh (eminent poet and founder, Access Health Care Physicians, USA) and Sudarshan Kcherry (CEO, Authorspress) followed.
Manoj Krishnan (author and founder, Asian Literary Society) delivered his keynote address touching upon the new initiatives and the innovative programmes conducted by ALS during the past year.
He also announced the names of the winners of the Annual 2020 Wordsmith Awards, Sagar Memorial Award, Gitesh Biva Memorial Award, and the Photography Contest. A session on Poetry Recitations was conducted in which over 25 poets from India and abroad participated. This session drew a lot of interest from all the members.
During the evening sessions, viewers had a literary banquet served before them through illuminating panel discussions in which distinguished personalities in the fields of Literature and Arts participated.
Dr Amarendra Khatua (former Secretary, MEA), Kumar Vikram (Editor, National Book Trust), and AJ Thomas (Guest Editor, Sahitya Akademi) shared their thoughts on how to popularise Asian literature in India. Renowned Hindi poets, Dr Om Nischal and Dr Laxmi Shankar Bajpai shared their thoughts on the Changing Face of Hindi Literature in the Era of Social Media.
Yuyutsu Sharma (eminent poet, Nepal), Santhini Govindan (eminent writer) and Mandira Ghosh (Treasurer, Poetry Society, India) were the panelists in the discussion on Feminism in Modern English Literature. Eminent writers Amrita Bhalla, Bina Pillai, and Meena Mishra participated the panel discussion on South Asian Literature and Indian Cinema.
Eminent Hindi poets Mamta Kiren, Renu Hussain, and famous author, Dr Kamal Kumar shared their thoughts on Hindi Language and Literature on the World Stage. Noted artist Lippi Parida and famous photographer Rohit Suri shared interesting tips on The Art of Photography to acquaint enthusiasts with this very popular topic.
The sessions were moderated by Anita Chand (administrator, ALS), Dr Aparna Bagwe (administrator, ALS), Kiren Babal (Ambassador, ALS), Dr Swasti Dhar (Associate Editor, JAACL), Nisha Tandon (Author & Poet), and Poonam Kanwal (Author & Poet).
