PVLF 2025

Author Dr. Jayanti Naik and Sampada Kunkoliekar to Participate in the FOSWAL Literature Festival

on Nov 03, 2022

Dr Jayanti Naik and Sampada Kunkoliekar will be part of the online FOSWAL Literature Festival, organised by Sahitya Akademi and Foundation of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) with the participation of BIMSTEC countries which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand on November 6 to 9.

On November 6, Dr. Jayanti Naik from Amona, Quepem will participate in a fiction session with Drs. Ranjana Niraula (Nepal), Ram Kumar Mukhopadhyay (India), and Selina Hossain (Bangladesh). The event will involve a self-introduction and the reading of a work of fiction. A translated Konkani narrative will be read by Dr. Jayanti.

The only SAARC apex body in the area, the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), promotes, nurtures, and strengthens cultural connectivity through literary and cultural interactions among the SAARC countries, for peace and tranquility in the region, through people-to-people contacts and dialogue.

On November 7, Kaushalya Kumarasinghe (Sri Lanka), Shoma Afroja (Bangladesh), and Prof. Abhi Subedi (Nepal) will participate in the papers session alongside Sampada Shenvi Kunkoliekar.

On the other hand, Dr. Jayanti received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award in 2019 and the Sahitya Akademi Literary Award in 2004.

She is a short story writer, playwright, children's author, folklorist, and translator who was the first person to receive a Ph.D. from the Konkani Department at Goa University. She is also from Goa and writes in Konkani. She is the author of nearly 45 novels, and her work has been printed and translated into other languages.

"We had the choice of poetry reading, storytelling, or tale reading. Since it is a representation of Konkani on a global scale, I am still debating what to read. If the conference had been hosted offline and we had the chance to meet everyone in person, it would have been much more thrilling.

In locations like Bhopal and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sahitya Akademi has hosted national conferences in that I have taken part. According to Dr. Jayanti, who received her Ph.D. with the thesis "Female representations in Konkani Folkore, a socio-cultural study," there we are given the choice of reading our work in either English or Hindi, which is typically the favored language by most writers.

Her first collection of short tales in Konkani, "Salt of the Earth," was translated into English by Augusto Pinto. "The colloquial language and folk terms, which have no equivalent in English, frequently diverge from the genuine spirit of the language. However, Dr. Jayanti comments that Augusto "has done his best to keep the phrases and has included footnotes explaining the terminologies.

Her short stories have also been published in languages including Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, and others. "My two collections of short stories, "Aarth" and "Athang," are both available in Kannada. Geeta Shonoi and Dinesh Nayak have translated "Aath" and "Athang," respectively.

Dr. Cecelia Carvalho, a renowned Marathi author, translated my poetry collection, "Mirgavenno," which was published in Marathi, according to Dr. Jayanti, who has won the Kala Academy Award, the Yashodamini Award from the Goan government, and the Gulab Personality Award 2022.

These global events are crucial to a writer's development because they expose them to various concepts and problems that plague the publishing and literary industries.

Additionally, we study literature and our place in Konkani literature. Through our connections with writers from other cultures, we learn about their publication issues, social settings, and difficulties, particularly for female authors. Since female authors tend to be more liberal and open-minded than male authors, I am pleased that Goa has a high standard in that regard, she says.

She is now working on a Konkani Folklores dictionary for Mangalore University. An encyclopedia of Konkani Folk culture is another significant project to which she has devoted many years of her literary career.

Sampada Kunkoliekar will discuss the book "Othambe" by Ravindra Kelekar. "This book by the philosophical author Ravindra Kelekar is unique among works of Konkani literature, and I picked it because of that. When a writer condenses what he wants to say into one page or a few words with philosophical insights about various facets of life, like in Frederick Nitche's "Twilight of the Idols," that is when I am inspired, says Sampada, a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi's Yuva Puraskar 2020.

Writing in Konkani, Marathi, and English since 2009, Sampada has released 13 books, three of which are in English: "Mysterious Power," "Mystical Power," and "Power Your Life." “In addition, I have authored seven books in Konkani and three in Marathi.

The most recent publication was a compilation of philosophical pieces called "Jeevan Yog" in Konkani. Sampada, who won the Sahitya Akademi's Yuva Puraskar 2020 for the travelogue "Chaar Paanvla Ashiyet," claims he is now researching Indian philosophy and writing his future book, "Gitarth (Essence of Bhagavad Gita). She has also received the AN Mhambro Award from the Goa Hindu Association, the Yuva Srujan Puraskar 2019, and the Junior Fellowship from Central Art and Culture from 2014 to 2016.

Sampada's first international festival is taking place at this time, and she says that it's a wonderful opportunity to talk about her favorite book, which has had a big influence on her personality.

It's wonderful to hear from other research academics from other nations, and although the conference is online, I'll be there for every session, says Sampada.