By Momo Quazi, Toronto
Literature lovers in Toronto were proud to be a part of the amazing event titled “Talk about Canada’s Literature” based on the recently published book “ Kenedio Shahitto : Bicchinno Vabna” by the renounced writer, researcher and former professor Subrata Kumar Das. Canadian literature is also referred to as “Can lit” and Mr. Das is the very first Bangladeshi writer who has attempted to write about Canlit in Bengali for the Bengali readers and literature lovers. The event took place on February 3, Sunday, at 4.30 pm, at the Birchmount Community Center in Toronto.
The event was divided into 4 very different segments and was participated by many of the Toronto’s literary authors, researchers, workers and literatures lovers. The inaugural session of the event was presented by Orko Bhattacharya. The speakers were The Bengali Academy Syed Waliullah Poet Iqbal Hassan, fiction writer and painter Syed Iqbal, Mahbubul Hoque Osmani of the newspaper CBN24, researcher Abdul Halim Miah from NRB television, Ranjit Roy from Saree House, ….. from desher alo and subrata Kumar Das himself.
The next segment was about observation on the book and was highlighted by writer Saikat Rushdie, poet Delwar Elahi, researcher Surjit Roy Majumdar and writer Mahmud Hasan. The program was presented by Chayan Das.
The third segment was with the award winning main stream prominent English writers of Toronto. Each of them read from their own pieces. The dignitaries were Doyali Islam, Toronto poet laureate Ann Micheles, Poet Marc Di Sevario and poet Ashoq Chakrabarty. The event was presented by the cultural activist Momo Quazi.
The final segment was on the world of literature and was presented by Aditi Zahir. The Bengali speakers were novelist Arif Anwar, researcher Sujit Kusum Pal, translator Saeed Jadid and cultural activist Tasmina Khan.
The
media partner of the event was NRB TV, Desher Alo, CBN24, Bangla Radio and
Bangla Mail. Saree house has sponsored the entire event and awarded the
celebrated writer Subrata kumar das with a $1000 cheque. All the notable members of Toronto
Bangladeshi were presented at the event.
The event was concluded by the renowned journalist Shahidul Islam Mintu.
