Valley of Words descends on Hyderabad; book on partition released

The two-day Valley of Words literary festival started in Hyderabad on Saturday. It is a celebration of best contemporary writings and an initiative to take the written word to young adults. The inaugural session saw the launch of a unique book on India-Pakistan partition which was written by Narendra Luther, who died recently. He had penned several books, a biography of the founder of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, writes ETV Bharat's Nazeem Beegum

Hyderabad: Valley of Words (VOW) has kept its vow to celebrate five best contemporary books in Indian languages from across the country for the fifth time. The literary group with an innovative idea of selecting 40 best books of the year and celebrating five best authors has chosen Hyderabad, the City of Nizams, as its venue for the fifth edition of the pan-India literary festival.

The two-day event kicked off at MCRHRD Institute Hall in the city on Saturday. The inaugural session started with The Family Saga: A Novel Set in the Time of Partition, a book on India-Pakistan partition published posthumously by Narendra Luther, a retired IAS officer of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh cadre, who had fallen in love with Hyderabad for his love of Urdu language and its culture. His first book was on the history of Hyderabad, published by Oxford University Press, and it still remains the most readable book on the undivided state, according to his son Rahul Luther.

A positive book on Ind-Pak Partition

Talking to ETV Bharat, Rahul Luther, founder of de-addiction centre Hope Trust and a writer, said that the book is a positive one unlike other books on partition and till his death, at the age of 86, his father did not hold any grudge against perpetrators of partition though he had to witness violence and flee from erstwhile Punjab (now in Pakistan) in a train to India at the age of 10. He added that the novel, like any other fiction, is based on some interpretation of reality.

“The greatest thing about my father was he never had any resentment or anger even though he had to go through the trauma of partition. When he came to Hyderabad, he got involved in knowing the culture and language of Urdu and started attending mushairas and poetry sessions," he said.

His works included coffee table books on Lashkar, an army camp of British in Secunderabad, and famous photographer Raja Deen Dayal, humorous history of Hyderabad, documentary on rocks of Hyderabad which won international awards, and another novel, to name a few. He had also written a biography of the founder of Andhra Pradesh, titled Lover Poet Founder.

“Many of his books have been translated into Hindu, Odiya, Telugu etc. His biggest contribution to literature is the history of Hyderabad published by Oxford University Press, and I would strongly recommend that to anyone who wants to read a non-pedantic history of Hyderabad,” Rahul added.

What is VOW?

Talking to ETV Bharat about VOW and the Hyderabad event, founder Dr Sanjay Chopra said, "A lot of translation works in Indian languages are happening in Hyderabad, which is home to language institutes and universities, that’s why we chose Hyderabad as the venue for the fifth edition of Valley of Words. We launched VOW five years ago to celebrate authors under eight categories, which were translated into English for children and youth."

“The Indian Literature in English has a powerful reach, and English has also become an Indian language. The biggest advantage of being an Indian is we can speak more languages, many of us speak at least two, three languages. Literature in any language needs to be celebrated. Literature takes you to a different world; it transports you to an entirely different reality,” he added.

According to Sanjay Chopra, a retired 1985 batch of IAS and author of six books, literature means both fiction and non-fiction. According to him, “There is no fiction without non-fiction, and non-fiction without fiction. This is an artificial line, it’s all in the mind.”

The founder of VOW disagreed with the popular notion that the emergence of social media has affected reading. “Reading has never been a normal thing in society. Even before social media, people read books. Two to three per cent of people were only reading then. So, those who like to read will continue reading books,” he added.

Explaining about the next edition, Chopra said that VOW invites applications from writers and publishers from across the country ahead of the event and it would be difficult to say who all will participate or win next year. Each of the eight categories will have a winner and will be rewarded with Rs 1 lakh. The categories are English fiction & non-fiction, Translation to Indian languages, Hindi fiction and non-fiction, writings for children, writings for young adults, translation from Indian languages.

The event also includes an exhibition of cartoons, storytelling, book discussions, interactive sessions and stage performance by children.