50th edition of novel released on Sahitya Akademi premises
Young people have started evincing enormous interest in reading books these days. It is a good trend and quite encouraging for authors, writer Benyamin has said.
He was addressing a gathering of writers and readers at a function organised by Green Books on the Kerala Sahitya Akademi premises here on Friday in connection with the release of 50th edition of his book ‘Aadu Jeevitham’ (Goat Days).
The novel depicts the life of Najeeb Muhammad, an Indian emigrant, who was forced to herd goats in the Saudi Arabian desert.
Speaking about his book, Benyamin, who works in Bahrain, said the life in Gulf was not just of skyscrapers and luxuries.
“Millions of Malayalees work in the Gulf. A sizeable number of them are manual labourers. Their wages are miserably low and living conditions are pathetic. I wanted to talk about the many who lead lives of suffering and pain. Many writers must have heard the story of Najeeb before. But it was my destiny to write the novel,” he said.
The book, which created history with 50 editions in 45 months, was translated to English, Tamil and Hindi. ‘Aadu Jeevitham’ was Benyamin’s fourth novel.
The book has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
Writers including Madambu Kunjukuttan, Balachandran Vadakkedath, P.V. Krishan Nair, Ravunny, Parvathy Pavanan, Lalitha Lenin and others participated.
An interactive session with the students of various institutions in the city was also organised.
