A galaxy of well-known writers and poets will get together here to celebrate the works of author Saadat Hasan Manto as part of the writer’s birth centenary celebrations.
Conference
The All India Urdu Manch, Bangalore, is organising a one-day international conference, Communal harmony in the writings of Saadat Hasan Manto, on Thursday at Yavanika, Nrupathunga Road from 10.30 a.m.
While the event will be inaugurated by Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, the keynote address will be delivered by Gopichand Narang, Professor Emeritus, Delhi University and Jamia Millia University. Eminent Pakistani writer Intezaar Hussain will be the chief guest at the event.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, Urdu manch trustee Maher Mansoor said the conference was aimed at projecting the essence of Manto’s writings “which express fragilities of human nature, irrespective of caste and creed”.
Poets’ meet
The Urdu manch, along with Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, is also organising a meet on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Vasanthnagar.
At the meet, poets will discuss the latest trends in literature in the subcontinent.
Manto, born in 1912 in Ludhiana, started his career by translating works of acclaimed giants of literature such as Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekov and Maxim Gorky before penning short stories, radio drama, essays, sketches, film scripts and a novel. He is most famous for his powerful writing on the aftermath of Partition. He migrated to Pakistan in 1948 and died in Lahore in 1955. He was only 43.
In August this year, he was posthumously awarded the highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, on Pakistan’s Independence Day, 57 years after his death.
