Three day literary fest and Book fair at PCI is a grand success with large attendence of journalists

Today is the second day of the literary fest and book fair organised by the Press Club of India led by its president Gautam Lahiri for the very first time.

The three day literary fest and book fair commenced on February 28 will continue till March 3. This is a grand event where hundreds of books of several senior journalists and celebrated writers are on display being sold on thirty percent discount.

These books are authored by eminent journalists, members of Press club of India and writers across spectrum.

The literary festival cum book fest was inaugurated jointly by the Press Club of India chief Gautam Lahiri and secretary general Neeraj Thakur in the presence of senior journalist, columnist and writer Prananjoy Thakur, veteran journalist Vinod Sharma, senior journalist Vivek Shukla, eminent author Dhirendra Jha, senior journalists, authors – Harish Singh Bal, M.K.Venu, Urmilesh, Pragya Singh, Ms. Pishroty, young journalists Saumya Raj, Ayush Tiwari, Shiwangi Saxena, Aliza Noor and others.

(On the 2nd day of the Press Club of India’s maiden Literary Festival and Book Fair – a panel discussion on How Media Bodies Can Protect Press Freedom was held with former and present Secretary Generals Vinay Kumar and Neeraj Thakur on the stage with authors n journalists) ( Below)

Addressing the participants of the literary fest cum Book fair during inauguration yesterday the PCI chief Gautam Lahiri said – through this event, we aim to celebrate the deep connection between journalism and book writing.

For this reason, the club will also feature books by renowned journalists who may not be club members but whose works have significantly contributed to public understanding of various issues. Such authors have been accorded special invitations from the club.”

Club president Gautam Lahiri underlined, “Since the idea is to celebrate the intrinsic link between journalism and book-writing, the Club also offers some space to books written by well-known journalists who may not be Club members but whose books have contributed immensely to the understanding of a certain
issue/topic. “Those set of books have been featured through special invitations to their writers by the Club authorities.” said Lahiri.

He said top bookstores of Delhi are participating in the festival. “PCI is also having a stall inorder to facilitate books of those members whose publishers are not Delhi-based or their books only available online.”
“Such writers are thus having the option of promoting their own books at the stall through individual standees on payment of a nominal sum said Gautam Lahiri.

He further said that “We are also offering members, the facility of taking pre-orders of their books which are soon to be published. They need to pay a nominal fee to the Club authorities to put up a standee.

After the inauguration four panel discussions featuring prominent journalists viz Prananjoy Thakur, Urmilesh Singh, Harish Bal, Vinod Sharma, editor of Hindi Wire Ashutosh etc took place who deliberated on topics concerning writing, media, freedom of press, and social issues.

The discussions were extremely significant with majority of the journalists focussing on the present worrisome state of affairs in journalism, the godi media becoming the spokesman of the ruling political dispensation, journalists being attacked on the line of duty and false , fabricated cases being registered against those who oppose the ruling party governments including majority of the journalists towing the government’s line not as journalists but as their agents etc.

Since no celebration is complete without food, the two-day event also had food stalls selling regional delicious cuisines to visitors.

The variety spread across north-eastern, Kashmiri, Bengali and Delhi’s Mughlai
fare and chaat.

The festival is being organized by an experienced team, including the club’s Vice President Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty, The Wire, Management committee members Surabhi Kanga, The Caravan, Aditi Rajput, NDTV and Mehtab Alam , The Wire, which leads the club’s successful program, “PCI Conversation.”

The post lunch session moderated by the PCI MC member and editor Caravan Surabhi Kanga was quite interesting with audience glued to their seats for over one and a half hours when the young journalists viz Saumya Raj, Ayush Tiwari, Shiwangi Saxena and Aliza Noor shared their experiences during spot reporting especially the risks encountered by them in the line of duty during challenging coverages in Delhi and other states of the country.

While putting their experience forth these journalists shared incidents where they faced violence and threats on the ground for reporting stories that went against the government line.

They described how often, the local administration blocks them from reporting in sensitive areas by barricading around the houses of survivors of communal violence.

They also spoke about how measures used to stop reporting in areas such as Kashmir are now used widely across India.

The reporters also discussed how Muslim journalists have to be careful about revealing their identity on the ground out of fear for their safety.

Reporters also discussed how the internet is a tool that helps them get public support in case they confront attacks and suppression, but also becomes the source of trolling and hate.

The journalists also discussed that it is important to speak to survivors of violence and hate crimes in a dignified manner, and to win their trust, instead of just seeing them as a story.

They also noted that it is not just the leadership in newsrooms that should have better caste and gender diversity, but reporters themselves. The discussions were very lively and interesting.

There were also also discussions on the Urdu books authored by various writers. Majority of the authors from Muslim and non muslim communities felt that an atmosphere of Islamophobia is being created in the name of Urdu and a section of the media is responsible for spreading such rumours to divide the society whereas the fact remains that hundreds of Hindu writers have written several books in Urdu which prior to partition used to be the language uttered and practised by majority of the people of the country. Rohini Singh , a writer of an Urdu book spoke at length about her entire journey as to how she learned Urdu due to her charm towards this language , completing her diploma and then authoring the book in Urdu terming it the language of Tehzeeb, saying that no language is wrong or bad but our narrow/ squeezed bent of mind.