ALSphere Foundation
PRESS RELEASE
Asian Literary Society’s Navras 2020 festival – a nine days festival of art, culture, and literature
As per ancient scriptures of South Asia, Navras symbolizes nine human emotions – love, laughter, compassion, anger, courage, fear, disgust, surprise, and peace. In the Navras Festival 2020, the Asian Literary Society celebrated art, culture, and literature interwoven with the vibrant hues of these emotions.
The coronavirus pandemic did not deter artists and literary luminaries from enthusiastically participating in the Asian Literary Society’s Navras 2020 festival – a nine days online festival of art, culture, and literature that was held from 1st to 9th July 2020.
Mr. Manoj Krishnan (Founder, Asian Literary Society, and author) inaugurated the Navras 2020 festival. Ms. Anita Chand (Hindi Poetess), Ms. Kiren Babal (Children’s Writer), and Dr. Swasti Dhar (Professor, Mumbai University) moderated various interactive sessions during Navras 2020.
The festival encompassed poetry recitation by eminent poets – Dr. Om Nischal, Dr. Laxmi Shankar Bajpai, Mr. Pratap Somvanshi, Ms. Mamta Kiran and live interactive sessions with Dr. Mridula Tandon (Founder, Sakshi), Dr. Pariksith Singh (CEO, Access Health Care Physicians, USA), and Mr. Sudarshan Kcherry (CEO, Authorspress).
Dr. Amarendra Khatua (Former Secretary, MEA) and Mr. Yuyutsu Sharma (Eminent Poet from Nepal) provided insights into modern South Asian literature. Mr. Kumar Vikram (Eminent poet and editor, NBT) discussed the challenges of cross-cultural communication and the role of poetry and publishing during the pandemic.
A panel discussion on literature and Indian fiction with Ms. Santhini Govindan (Author), Ms. Bina Pillai (Author), Ms. Meena Mishra (CEO, The Impish Lass Publishing House) and Mr. Suhail Mathur (Renowned Literary Agent) provided insights into the literary world to aspiring writers.
In the arena of Arts, the live sessions with Ms. Sangeeta Gupta (Bharatanatyam Dancer), Ms. Isha Das (Odissi Dancer), Ms. Shilpi Srivastava (Classical Singer) and Mr. Shakeel Ahmed (Ghazal Singer) enthralled the viewers.
Each day of the nine days festival showcased the dancing and singing talents of artists from all over the country. Dances were performed by Dr. Madhavi Menon, Ms. Amrit Varsha Baruah, Ms. Riny Bharadwaj, Ms. Gauri Bharadwaj, and Ms. Meeta Nagpal. Singers included Ms. Mani Saxena, Dr. Aparna Bagwe, Dr. Charu Kapoor, Ms. Lalita Iyer Vaitheeswaran, Dr. Aparna Pradhan, Dr. Archana Tandon, and Mr. Nilesh Savant.
A highlight of Navras 2020 was the Online Art Exhibition in which exquisite paintings of more than forty artists from India and abroad were showcased.
In keeping with the present scenario, the festival included motivational talks by Mr. Abhinandan Bhattacharya (Writer and Editor), Mr. Amit Dubey (Motivational Speaker), and Mr. Yash Tiwari (Youth mentor), and live session by Dr. Ameeta Parsuram (Eminent Psychologist) on maintaining mental health in the time of coronavirus.
All the participating artists were felicitated virtually at the end of Navras 2020 by Mr. Manoj Krishnan.
The Asian Literary Society’s Navras 2020 festival received an overwhelming response from viewers from all over the world who applauded ALS and its this initiative at the time of coronavirus pandemic.
प्रेस विज्ञप्ति
