Pragjyotishpur Literature Festival-25:New hope for literature enthusiasts

Intriguing deliberations on Assamese lyrics, traditional theatres, translation literatures, regional media's role in nurturing languages, unparalleled literary creations of Jnanpith awardee Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya, a thorough look on Kalaguru by his playwright son, talks on nature writing and two sessions of multilingual poetry recitations enriched the three day Pragjyotishpur Literature Festival 2025 which concluded on 16 November at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra premise of Guwahati.

- NAVA THAKURIA

The third edition of prestigious literature festival, organized by the Sankardeva Education and Research Foundation (SERF) with the theme 'In Search of Roots' initiated to showcase the history, culture and languages of the land, once known as Pragjyotishpur (later Kamrup kingdom, where the capital was located roughly in the present day Guwahati) in the right perspective.

Valedictory function of the three-day literary exploration witnessed two Assamese writers felicitated in gracious presence of PLF president Phanindra Kumar Dev Choudhury, chief guest Sahitya Akademi awardee Apurba Kumar Saikia and a galaxy of authors, writers, translators, critics, cultural personalities, journalists and literature enthusiasts.

Tiwa scholar and a tireless researcher of the society-literature-culture-history Maneswar Dewri along with emerging short-story writer Srotashwini Tamuli were honoured with PLF-25 awards. Accepting the award, distinguished essayist Dewri narrated his struggle and search for the Tiwa ethnic community's identity amidst many challenges. Srotaswini, a research scholar at Birangana Sati Sadhani State University, admitted that receiving the award at an early stage of her literary journey simply enhanced the sense of responsibility in the field of creative writing.