An Online eLit Festival, by Clips and Pages, brought together 50 litterateurs, artistes, filmmakers, et al, between April 4 and 30, this year, connecting people who were caged in lockdown all over the country. A report by Sukanya, exclusively for Different Truths.

Drawing cue from the famous proverb, necessity is the mother of invention, we turned down all negatives of COVID 19 and gathered the attention of literateurs to all positives. We found new ways to keep people engaged and launched the first-ever online lit fest in Kolkata eLit through Clips and Pages, on April 4, 2020. Our aim was to entertain and yet add value to the lives of those who are currently under home quarantine or lockdown.

…we turned down all negatives of COVID 19 and gathered the attention of literateurs to all positives. I found new ways to keep people engaged and launched the first-ever online lit fest in Kolkata eLit through Clips and Pages

Literature makes life better and we wanted to resolve the bitterness that’s enveloping the world through the virus via literature. We’re going to be there for the people until COVID-19 is gone.

There have been about 50 participating speakers out of which some mention-worthy names from the first two weeks include: national award-winning journalist Nibedita Sen, bestselling author Devika Das, artistes Gopa Bhattacharjee and Shuvayu Bhattacharjee, the founder of Y-East & Sustainability Director of Techno India Group Pauline Laravoire, Founder of Offbeat CCU & Director of Global operations at Techno India Group Meghdut Roychowdhury, a wheelchair-bound 40 years-old author of several books Fredrika Menezes, Suromita Roy from Storytel India, RJ Tejashri from Radio city, the founder of the Maritime post-Aditya Giri, fitness instructor Cliszma Da Costa, and Dr Mahul Brahma whose ebook, Quarantined: Love in the time of Corona, which was virtually launched globally at eLit, on April 12.

Later in the month, the festival featured the founders of Different Truths, a social journalism platform, Arindam Roy and Anumita Chatterjee Roy. 

Later in the month, the festival featured the founders of Different Truths, a social journalism platform, Arindam Roy and Anumita Chatterjee Roy.

Anumita is passionate about women-centric issues, Special Needs children, fashion, film and music, to name a few. Born in India, she was brought up in several countries. These strengthened the global citizen in her. Managing Editor of Different Truths and Convenor, Kavya Kumbh, a mega International Multilingual Poetry Fest, she now lives in the Columbus, Ohio, the US, with her husband and two sons. She spoke about how Different Truths came into being as well as her role as Managing Editor of the same,  guidelines for poets/ writers for getting their works published, what one needs to be an editor, her hopes and dreams as an editor.

On the very next day, Arindam went on to speak about how writers can revise their copies so that they may have the best chances of getting their contributions published. He is a publisher, editor, author, poet, translator, a teacher of Mass Comm and Creative Writing, has 38 years’ experience in various newsrooms. Festival Director of Kavya Kumbh, a mega International Multilingual Poetry Fest, he is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Different Truths.

One of the most loved sessions on eLit, online literary festival, Arindam spoke from experience, which reflected genuinely from his hour-long chat. He spoke extensively about how important it is to use simple and yet, correct English.

One of the most loved sessions on eLit, online literary festival, Arindam spoke from experience, which reflected genuinely from his hour-long chat. He spoke extensively about how important it is to use simple and yet, correct English. He said, “Write your submissions as if you were narrating it to a child of Class IV of an English medium school.” And that made the viewers blast the like button and shower their comments proving their overflowing enthusiasm.

Photos by the author