This was a wonderfully organised lit fest (by Vishwakarma Publications, MIT and Manjiri Prabhu and other partners) which was held at Yashada, in Pune. As a Punekar, it made me proud. This is the sixth one, but the first one which I attended as I was not in Pune when the previous festivals were held.
Listening to authors like Shobha De, Gurcharan Das, Isak Bagvan and a myriad of other authors and poets was invigorating.
It was also quite interesting to hear owners of bookshops speak out on the shrinking shelf space, which according to them is not really shrinking! According to them running a bookshop is all about the passion. If it is run like a business the chances are that it will fail. Today,
with the digital media fast catching up (or has it already?) bookshops have a lot of competition. Bookshops today need to revive the days when entering a bookshop was all about the experience. And one is not talking about the experience of buying toys and other merchandise in a bookshop. But about entering a quiet, sacred space where the salespeople guide you, and talk to you intelligently, helping you find what you want.
Here are some photographs from the festival which went on for three days from 28th September to 30th September 2018. Several books were launched at the venue and it was a place where one could meet one's favourite authors.
If anyone has missed this festival, then they can look out for the one which will be held next year around this time.
At this fest, you can hang out the whole day, reading, buying books, drinking in not just thoughts but also coffee and tea. Snacks were available, and yes, a thali too. Toilets were clean and there was a large number of enthusiastic youngsters helping out the attendees. All in all, great fun! It is the kind of festival you can attend absolutely alone. Your only company the books and their authors.
Listening to authors like Shobha De, Gurcharan Das, Isak Bagvan and a myriad of other authors and poets was invigorating.
It was also quite interesting to hear owners of bookshops speak out on the shrinking shelf space, which according to them is not really shrinking! According to them running a bookshop is all about the passion. If it is run like a business the chances are that it will fail. Today,
with the digital media fast catching up (or has it already?) bookshops have a lot of competition. Bookshops today need to revive the days when entering a bookshop was all about the experience. And one is not talking about the experience of buying toys and other merchandise in a bookshop. But about entering a quiet, sacred space where the salespeople guide you, and talk to you intelligently, helping you find what you want.
Here are some photographs from the festival which went on for three days from 28th September to 30th September 2018. Several books were launched at the venue and it was a place where one could meet one's favourite authors.
If anyone has missed this festival, then they can look out for the one which will be held next year around this time.
At this fest, you can hang out the whole day, reading, buying books, drinking in not just thoughts but also coffee and tea. Snacks were available, and yes, a thali too. Toilets were clean and there was a large number of enthusiastic youngsters helping out the attendees. All in all, great fun! It is the kind of festival you can attend absolutely alone. Your only company the books and their authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your polite comments are welcome.