Fest sees literary debates

Mediocrity in the mainstream, the desperate need for stories and the path literature will pave in modern India, were some of the issues discussed during a spirited discussion on the ‘Sites for literary assembly’ at the Kala Ghoda Festival on Monday.

Mediocrity in the mainstream, the desperate need for stories and the path literature will pave in modern India, were some of the issues discussed during a spirited discussion on the ‘Sites for literary assembly’ at the Kala Ghoda Festival on Monday.

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Six panelists including Ranjit Hoskote and Sampurna Chattarji, who represented PEN, and the audience, were sprawled across the lush Museum Gardens.

“The tributary feeds the mainstream,” said writer Sharmistha Mohanty, referring to the role small publications play in the future of literature as they provide the fuel for mainstream literature.

Switching to the role that regional language publications play in the future of Indian literature, Marathi publisher, Hemant Divate, questioned if regional language writers are doing their bit to sustain Marathi Literature.

“Sometimes I feel like asking-are we the last generation of Marathi poets?” said Divate.

Quoting Pulitzer Prize winner, Junot Diaz, Indira Chandrasekhar, fiction writer and founding editor for Out of Print, said, “We desperately need more stories.”

She said that there exists a need to market and sell better in the literary field. Amidst the competition in our modern world, the only solution seems to be to do what you need to do to reach your audience, she further added. “If one medium doesn’t work, we should be open to trying others and diversifying -- from books to magazines or even online mediums,” said a member of the audience, Jagruti Shukla.