Mangalore: AIKWO organizes Karnataka Konkani Literary Conference at Kalaangann

-Media Release

Mangalore, Mar 21, 2014 : All India Konkani Writers’ Organisation (AIKWO) organized Karnataka Konkani literary conference at Kalaangann, Makale, Shaktinagar, here on Sunday March 16.

 
The senior Konkani litterateur Fr Mark Valdar inaugurated the Conference – by placing 5 pencils (depicting the 5 scripts of Konkani), handed over to him by representatives of the 5 scripts, in a bowl having alphabets of all the 5 scripts on it (signifying the world of Konkani literature).

 

 

Speaking on the occasion, Fr Mark said that as a result of so many organisations working for the cause of Konkani, he has hope that Konkani language will survive.

 
AIKWO president Vincy Quadros felicitated Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy new-appointed president Roy Castelino, during the programme.

 
A collection of children’s stories, by J F D’Souza, titled ‘Bhangarachem Suknnem’ (Golden Bird), was also released at the Conference.

 
Vincy Quadros in his presidential address said that AIKWO respects all the scripts of Konkani and is committed to work for promoting Konkani literature in all the 5 scripts.

Three Papers were presented at the Conference.

The first paper on – ‘Harnessing the Possibilities of the Internet’ – was presented by Dr Anil Pinto, registrar of Christ University, Bangalore. Dr Pinto said, ‘To reach a wider audience and for the purpose of documentation, Konkani writers should explore the possibility of going online with their literary works, so that the content is available to the public and they talk about it.’ It was followed by a discussion, which was moderated by Dr Gerald Pinto (Jerry Niddodi).

The second paper on – ‘Facing globalisation and strengthening one’s roots’ – was presented by Vasant Shetty, columnist and language activist, Bangalore. Apart from citing the example of how Kannada is tackling this crucial issue, he threw up an important concept called ‘Language Planning’. The discussion that followed was moderated by Marcel D’Souza (Macha Milar).

The third paper on – ‘Konkani Literature in the Roman Script’ – was presented by Fausto Da Costa, editor-in-chief of Gulab, Goa. He cited with examples that the first script to be used for Konkani literature, was indeed the Roman script. Jose Salvador Fernandes, Goa moderated the discussions.

The afternoon session began with an interaction with senior Konkani writer from Goa, recipient of the Sahithya Akademi Award for literature, Jess Fernandes. He was interviewed by Brenda Menezes followed by a dialogue with the audience.

The eleven young poets – Venisha Fernandes Goa, Sonia Gomes Goa, Amora Monteiro Bondel, Praveen Tauro Kulshekar, Melvyn Mascarenhas Kolalgiri,amanjoor, Alwyn D’Souza Agrar, Flavia Albuquerque Puttur, Grevita Danti Hosabettu, Rohan D’Souza Bajpe and Alwyn Danti Pernal presented their poems at the ‘Yuva Kavi Sammellan’, moderated by Jaison Sequeira Gurpur, a young accomplished poet.

 

The audience was captivated by the short play titled ‘Bodlavonn’ (change), presented by Kalakul Theatre Repertory. The Karnataka Konkani Literary Conference concluded at 4.30pm on Sunday.

After the Conference, the second meeting of executive Committee meeting was held.   Important decisions regarding the Plan of Action and the future of AIKWO were taken at the meeting.

 
AIKWA general secretary Dr Edward Nazareth welcomed the gathering. The treasurer Richard Moras proposed the vote of thanks.