Kolkata: Aiming to connect literateurs across the world, with an essence of inclusivity, Clips, and pages launch the first-ever women’s online lit fest, ‘E-lit’ on April 4, 2020.
21-years-old author and festival founder Sukanya Basu Mallik who’s a bachelor’s degree student at Techno India says, “Our aim was to entertain and yet add value to the lives of those who are currently under home quarantine or lockdown. Literature makes life better and we wanted to resolve the bitterness that’s enveloping the world through the virus via literature. We’re going to be there for the people until covid19 is gone“.
The first chapter of the festival commenced on 4th April 2020 with a session by the Award-winning journalist and News Sense columnist Nibedita Sen on politicians as mass communicators followed by a session of Urdu poetry by a veterinary doctor and multilingual poet from Jammu and Kashmir, a Vet Dr. Radhika Sharma which dealt with finding peace amidst chaos during the current lockdown through literature. She spoke extensively about the effects of coronavirus and how it is causing disruption throughout the world.
Day 2 of the festival began with a beautiful session on finding peace of mind, called ‘positivity hacks during the lockdown ‘ by the tarot card reader and chakra healer Sonam Chamaria. It was followed by a cinematic and tuneful evening session by a couple, the gorgeous Gopa Bhattacharjee and the melodious Shuvayu Bhattacharjee called ‘Poetic influence in cinema ‘.
The third day of the event includes masterclass on ‘What and why to read during quarantine’ by a blogger and founder of libroreviews, Anchal Rani.
The line up for the rest of the festival consists of Goan author, 40 years old poet and artist Frederika Menzes from Goa who is suffering from cerebral palsy. There is also a licensed career counselor Tanisha Salma Venkai, professional graphic designer Samridhi Aneja from Punjab, bestselling author Devika Das, Suromita Roy from storytel India, Merril from Sheroes, Pune’s Rj Tejashri from Radiocity and many more.
Sukanya has not only taken it to her stride but also involved readers, writers and bloggers for their active participation. She feels that there is a need of involvement of young and experienced minds rather than some big sponsors.
“We’re neither charging from our speakers nor from participants /viewers. Clips and pages run completely on a voluntary basis. At clips and pages, we try to provide a common interactive online platform for young and experienced minds. We would love to welcome if someone comes up for sponsoring our event in future to make it grand,” Sukanya said.
