The former general secretary of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Jagdish Patgiri, has lamented the recent trend among few writers in Assam to write prose, poetry or novel all with an eye on awards and that too under “political patronage”. Patgiri was delivering the inaugural speech on the concluding day (Sunday) of the three-day National Tribal Book Festival organised by the National Book Trust of India and Sahitya Akademi at Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha Degree College at Orang in Udalguri district of Assam.
The said trend will have to be stopped, Patgiri asserted, otherwise it will “sound the death knell of Assamese literature”. Creative writing is an art and this art needs to be honed through constant practice. “People should not be parochial in their views and should try to work for the betterment of the society,” he observed.
Earlier, the 35th annual Bodo Writers’ Day was observed and it got off to a start with hoisting of the flag and paying homage to the martyrs. On this occasion, the Bodo Writers’ Academy also gave away the Ajha Sukumar Basumatari Literary Award 2019 to Nandeswar Daimari, Asha Rani Mochahary Literary Award, 2019 to Aran Raja Basumatari and Nimati Mochahary Aspiring Writer Award 2019 to Sushmita Basumtari on Sunday. The literary awards besides carrying certificate of recognition also carries cash prize of Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively.
The second day’s event started with a Bodo women poets’ meet wherein budding women poets recited their poems. The meeting was presided over by the vice-president of Bodo Writers’ Academy, Bhabani Baglari. The National Book Trust of India organised the tribal writers and publishers’ meet which was chaired by the president of Bodo Writers Association (BWA), Rajen Basumatari, and Binny Kurian from the National Book Trust attended the meet.