September 8 is International Literacy Day. The aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Each year on this day, UNESCO encourages celebrations and awareness globally to remind of the importance of literacy and adult learning.

GOA’S BECOMING a state of festivals but nobody’s complaining. The state’s first ever Arts & Literary Festival at the lovely landscaped gardens complex of the International Centre Goa (ICG) from Dec 12 to 14, 2010, had enough fire to fuel the mind. It was three days of sometimes slow, sometimes quick turnover of ideas literary and not-so-literary…crammed with inspirational talks, panel discussions about Konkani literature, poetry written in English in India and multilingual poetry, photography, book readings, quite a few new book releases…

GOA remembers and celebrates a doyen of Marathi/Konkani literature, the late B B Borkar or more popularly remembered as Bakibab Borkar. The Bakibab Borkar Birth Centenary Celebrations organised by the Directorate of Art & Culture (Goa government) concluded with a musical programme, a sammelan of discussions, interaction, and poetry reading, as also the release of book Gaurav Granth and a musical CD (both commemorating poet Bakibab).

IF one is living most of the time in the hallowed world of English journalism and literature and its commensurate cultural ethos, idioms, attachments…then it’s a wonderfully illuminating moment to attend one of the Sahitya Akademi’s national or regional literature meets! Then one realizes in detail how much inherent riches there are in this country alone given its 24 officially recognised languages. One also understands why translators play a key role in promoting national integration vis-à-vis Indian literature, they contribute towards keeping the country’s “unity in diversity” roots watered and alive or so to speak. Even if there’s the very real fear that English has pretty much become the master and monster language of our times in independent India!

THE JOURNEY of modern Konkani short story in a book form in Devnagiri script begins with Shenoi Goembab, the father of Konkani literature. His first story, ‘Mhoji Ba Khaim geli?’ (Where has my mother gone?), was published in the magazine Novem Goem, which was later included in a collection of stories entitled Gomantopanishad Volume I in 1933.

By Tara Narayan

IT’S A question which plagues the mind somewhere along the way while listening to various speakers at a two-day Sahitya Akademi and Konkani Advisory Board seminar on “Identifiable Trends in the Western Indian Literature in the First Decade” held at the Kala Academy’s Black Box auditorium on March 6-7, 2010. India has 24 recognised Indian languages, many with a distinguished literary tradition, but in the end the truth is that Indians are on their way to becoming WOGS or “western oriental gentlemen”!

BY DAMODAR MAUZO

Born in the coastal village of Palolem in 1941, Jess had to grow up in poverty. But, in spite of paucity of resources, his parents saw that he got the best of education. Jessbab, as he is popularly known in the literary field, did his seventh year of Liceum and joined the noble teaching profession as a government teacher in the Escola Primaria. Later, after Goa’s liberation, he joined the Directorate of Health Services from where he retired as a paramedical officer. Meanwhile, he acquired his degree in the faculty of Arts and several other diplomas.

LOVERS OF Konkani are very happy for Jess Fernandes because he was awarded the country’s prestigious Sahitya Academy Literary Award. I, too, was glad because Jess Fernandes, who wrote 29 books in Konkani in the Roman script and only two collections of poems including ‘Kirvont’, which won him the prestigious award in Konkani in Roman and Devnagari scripts, was considered for the award.