The country’s largest gathering of literati at the triennial Chinho Mela, kicked-off at the Rajshahi University (RU) premises on Monday.
The fourth edition of the two day literature festival organized by the university’s Bangla department, concluded on Tuesday at the Shahidullah Arts building.
The fair was named after the RU-based literature magazine titled ‘Chinho’, a publication of its Bangla department.
Authors, poets, artists, academics, intellectuals, along with avid readers and literature enthusiasts from home and abroad, thronged to the festival to quench their thirst for literature.
The fair organized over 100 stalls featuring literary magazines from Bangladesh and India rich with literary content.
In local poet Jahangir Firoz’s words: “Prithibi amar, ami hete jabo. Tobe keno ei passport passport, katatar katartar khela,” implied that the festival through its literary outreach has broken all boundaries and emerged as a place for literature, discussions, enlightenment.
Another local poet Soroj Deb claimed: “It will not be an exaggeration, if RU students claimed that Chinho Mela is the largest literary conference arranged by a department of any university.”
Several discussion sessions were conducted by poets and writers during which speakers spoke about Bangla literature’s place in the 21st century, recited poems, and discussed the future of Bangla literature as well as its trends and tendencies.
Dr Shohid Iqbal, chairperson of Bangla department and editor of Chinho said: “Chinho has a goal to help inspire and produce creative and thoughtful writers.”
“Writers and literature lovers from Bangladesh, India, and also Bangali writers from across the world, gather here once every three years to express and exchange their thoughts about Bangla literature,” he said.
Teachers and students of Rajshahi University visited stalls, enjoyed the discussion sessions, the poem recitals and folk music of ‘Matal,’ a band comprised of students and teachers of the Mass Communication and Journalism department of Rajshahi University.
