JKAACL begins ‘Meet the Author’ series in Jammu

Prominent writers during ‘Meet the Author’ series at JKAACL in Jammu on Saturday.
Prominent writers during ‘Meet the Author’ series at JKAACL in Jammu on Saturday.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 21: The Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages (JKAACL), under the guidance of Bharat Singh, Secretary (JKAACL), has successfully begun with the unprecedented series of events titled ‘Meet-the-Author’ at JKAACL premises, here today.
The series intends to have a direct interaction of the writer with the audience, and these interactions shall aid the exploration of various life aspects and works which acts as a creative inspiration for the author/writer.
Under this initiative, every weekend, the JKAACL shall host and meet the authors of seven different languages: Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri, Punjabi, Gojri, and Pahari.
At the outset, the Secretary JKAACL gave a heartfelt cordial welcome to everyone and expressed that authors are the face of society. “They (authors) represent the inner thoughts of the social fabric through their ink, and it is indeed a special skill,” he mentioned.
He further added that this interaction would enable the audience to know about their life, literary intellect, and struggle they (authors) had faced. It shall be a source of inspiration for all.
The inaugural event featured Sahitya Akademi Awardee Prof Veena Gupta, former HoD, Department of Dogri at the University of Jammu. She described her journey of life and recalled her childhood experiences and struggle during school and college time.
Prof Lalit Magotra said that the contribution of Prof Veena Gupta towards Dogri language is immense and selfless and this cannot be ignored, while Shailender Singh said that Dogri has got its recognition because of the struggle of various persons.
Dr Om Goswami, a noted author of the J&K read the paper on the life and works of Prof Veena Gupta.
The dignitaries and writers including Padamshree Dr Jitender Udhampuri, Professor Archana Kesar, Professor Sushma Sharma, Dr Sandeep Dubey, Dr Padam Dev Singh, Dr Chanchal Bhasin, Vijya Thakur, Sunita Badwal and many others were present during the event.
The vote of thanks was presented by Dr Shahnawaz.