Close encounters of the literary kind

Mouths opened in surprise when Education and Culture Minister M A Baby appeared five minutes before the inauguration of the Kovalam Literary Festival on Saturday.

"There is a bit of adventure in inviting a minister to a literary festival. There is always the possibility of the programme being delayed owing to his late arrival. So I took precautions," he said.

Thank you, minister, for breaking the mould.

When Jnanpith award winner O N V Kurup arrived, everybody stood up. Baby held the 79-year-old’s hand and helped him on to the stage. ONV spoke about the dying art of poetry.

‘’Poetry is kept in the hothouse under the artificial lights of the Indian Coffee House,’’ he said.

Full report here New Indian Express

‘My poetry is my response to life’

Malayalam poet and lyricist Prof Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup, 79, popularly known as ONV, was in Dubai on Friday, Sep 24 when he received news that he has been awarded the Jnanpith, India’s highest award for literature. In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, he spoke to Sajila Saseendran before he flew back to India.

There is a general opinion in the Malayalam literary circle that the award has been long-overdue.
I cannot claim an award and I don’t have the right to say it is long overdue. We shouldn’t aspire for awards when we write or create something. If you write something, that piece of work is like an award because of the satisfaction it gives you. However, in this long journey of 65 years of publishing my works, several awards have come to me and they are like a shadow or paadheyam (a parceled meal offered to a traveller). When I was a young writer, it was an inspiration, an impetus. Now, I consider it as a recognition to Malayalam poetry. What is more important is that we are getting a Jnanpith award for Malayalam poetry after a long time, after G Sankara Kurup.

You have been a very popular lyricist, as well. What gives you more self-satisfaction — poems or songs?
Poetry is poetry, while film songs are poetry applied to film. The architect of the film is its director. Here, I’m the architect and I have supreme powers. In poetry, I can change words as I like. But, in films, I write for another person. Whether it is a poem or a song, when it serves its purpose, you get satisfaction. However, I get more satisfaction in writing poems since poetry is much deeper and is a response to life.

Do you think poetry is dying in this age of commercialisation?
To a certain extent, yes. It is true that the visual media or the spoken word in it is now dominating and poetry, or the written word, is losing its readers gradually. However, poetry always has a fixed audience. Nothing can replace the aesthetic aspect of the written poetic word. But, there are people who want to develop this notion that poetry is dying down. Languages are nowadays shrinking. Ruining our language for the sake of computer usage is not right.

Full interview here Khaleej Times

Warm welcome for Jnanpith award winner

Malayalam poet and film lyricist ONV Kurup, who won India's prestigious literary prize Jnanpith, was given a rousing reception.

Malayalam poet and film lyricist ONV Kurup, who won India's prestigious literary prize Jnanpith, was given a rousing reception in Thiruvananthapuram, on Saturday, Sep 25 when he flew down to Thiruvananthapuram after a visit abroad. He was in the Gulf when the award was announced on Friday.

ONV Kurup was awarded the 43rd Jnanpith award. ONV, as he is better known in literary and social circles, is the fifth writer from Kerala to win the award.

A large crowd including political leaders and well-wishers from social and literary circles gathered at the airport  when ONV arrived.

Kerala Minister for Culture M.A. Baby was also at hand to congratulate the poet. Baby said the government would seek to have the award bestowed in Kerala, instead of in Delhi as usual.

Full report here Gulfnews

Jnanpith for Malayalam poet-lyricist Kurup

Veteran Malayalam poet and film lyricist O N V Kurup has bagged the Jnanpith award for 2007. He is the fifth Jnanpith laureate from Kerala and the second poet from the state to win the prestigious award. During his seven-decade-long career, the winner of the country’s highest literary honour bagged several state and national awards, including the Padmashree in 1998.

Kurup, 79, began his illustrious poetic career during his school days. His first work, Poruthunna Soundaryam, was published in 1949. He became a college lecturer in 1957 and continued as an academician for the next 30 years. He started writing lyrics for films in 1955 and over the years has bagged state awards for the best lyricist 12 times.

Reacting to his winning the Jnanpith, Kurup said, “I am writing for better days for humankind. I am still drawing inspiration for writing from the life of my coastal village. The award is recognition of the Malayalam language.”

Full report here Indian Express

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Jnanpith for Malayalam poet Kurup, Urdu scholar Shahryar Times of India
Malayalam, Urdu writers claim Jnanpith awards Hindu
Jnanpith award an honour for Malayalam poetry IBNLive

Chinese, Pak, African authors at Kovalam

Chinese writer Lijian Zhang along with Pakistani writers Mohammed Haneef and Ali Sethi will be the prime attractions of the Kovalam Literature Festival early next month in Thiruvanthapuram.

Zhang, who is visiting India for the first time would speak about her bestseller Socialism is Great, a memoir of her growing up years in China of the 1980s, at the third edition of the festival, scheduled to be held on October 2-3 at the Kanakakunnu Place in Kerala's capital city.

Mohammed Haneef who wrote A Case of the Exploding Mangoes along with Ali Sethi whose debut novel The Wish Maker and H M Naqvi's The Home boy form the authors from Pakistan who will read out and discuss their books at the festival.

"We also have Debrah Baker, the wife of Amitav Ghosh reading out from her yet to be released book on Islam and Pakistan," says an organiser of the festival.

Baker''s book The Convert: A Parable of Islam and America, is scheduled to be released next year in India.

Among other invitees include poet lyricist ONV Kurup, writer Paul Zachariah, Kashmiri author Basharat Peer, graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee, Amish Tripathi, Mridula Koshy and Manu Joseph. Capt Gopinath, talks about his autobiography "simply fly.in" with Amit Baruah.

Full report here MSN

DC Book's 10,000 book release on Aug 12

DC Books would release its 10,000th book Dinantham (End of the day) at a function in Thrissur on August 12, its Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Kizhakemuri said on August 6.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the book would be released as part of the publication house's 36th anniversary celebrations. A 11-day book fair would be held here as part of the celebrations from Aug 12, he said. Former Chief Election Commissioner, Navin Chawla would deliver the 12th memorial lecture on D C Kizhakemuri, founder of South India's largest Book store chain, on Aug 12 here, he said.

'Dinantham' is an anthology by poet and film lyricist O N V Kurup and would be released by noted literateur Dr Sukumar Azhikode. Over 300 reputed national and international publishers would participate in the event, which would feature daily entertainment shows, book releases and informative programmes, he added.

Full report here IBN Live

ONV stands up for Malayalam

Reiterating his angst and wondering about the reasons for many Malayalam books not getting translated, veteran poet ONV Kurup inaugurated a seven-day book exhibition organised by Rachana, the cultural wing of the Kerala Secretariat Employees’ Association, in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, July 29.

“We have translated books from so many different languages. But only a few books from Malayalam get translated to other Indian languages,” said ONV. “And when people like us raise our voice for our language, others say it is because we have some ulterior motives, like securing the post of a vice-chancellor. What ambitions can someone as old as me have?” he asked.

“Malayalam should not be pushed behind any other language. It should rise to great heights,” said the poet, inspiring the hundreds gathered there to read and understand their mother-tongue better.

Full report here Yentha

Will Kerala Remain A Malayalam Reading Crowd: ONV

Inaugurating the 10-day book fair organised by the Kerala Bhasha  Institute at the VJT  Hall in Thiruvananthapuram, veteran poet ONV Kurup said that he feared if the people in Kerala will remain as a Malayalam reading crowd.

The poet appreciated the Bhasha Institute for entering into a new phase of production with improved layouts on its books.

"We are now self-sufficient to compete with private publishers," said Dr. PK Pokker, director of the Kerala Bhasha Institute. "We are not conducting the book fair for commercial interests. We want to spread information and encourage people to read," he added.

At the inaugural function, the director of C-DIT, Rathan Kelkar IAS, sold the first book to Kerala State Encyclopedia Institute Director Professor K Paapputty, using the open source software that C-DIT has designed for the Bhasha Institute.

Full report here Yentha.com

Panel to go into Kerala's appeal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised to refer to an expert panel Kerala's plea for conferring ‘classical' status to Malayalam.

The Prime Minister, who gave a patient hearing to the delegation led by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, Culture Minister M.A. Baby and poets O. N. V. Kurup, Sugathakumari and K. Satchidanandan, said while Kerala appeared to have a strong case, it was for experts to decide on the State's plea.

“The Prime Minister gave us a warm welcome and patiently listened to our arguments. We are hopeful that this initiative by the Culture Minister and the State government would produce a positive outcome,” O.N.V. Kurup told The Hindu here on Thursday evening.

Full report here Hindu