Urhalpool Inaugurated at the 2009 Kolkata Book Fair

Sunil GangulyFew months ago I wrote about the debut of a new Bengali webzine, Urhalpool.com. The magazine has now reached new heights with the introduction of the first hard copy version at the 2009 Kolkata Book Fair. On Saturday 7th February 2009, at 6PM, the UBI auditorium at the Kolkata Book Fair ground was completely packed with people standing all over. Sunil Gangopadhyay introduced Urhalpool with a short speech which was  followed by editor Goutam Datta talking about the vision of the magazine. The Hon’ble consul general of Italy was present on the stage along with Urhalpool’s Italian writer Alessandra Corsini. Several other contributers to the magaine like  Alolika Mukherjee, Subodh sarkar, Mallika Sengupta, Pinaki Thakur, Bithi Chattopadhyay and others were present at the event.  Urhalpool’s  Shakti Chattopadhyay Life Time achievement in Bengali literature award (Rs25,000) was presented to Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Nirmal Chandra Gangopadhyay Sahitya puroskar was awarded (Rs15,000) to Poet Srijato. Poet Shakti Chattopadhyay’s wife Minakhi-di handed over the Shakti Chattopadhyay award and Nupur Lahiri handed over Nirmal Chandra award.  The entire program was conducted by Soumitra Mitra.

Mahasweta Devi Nominated for the 2009 Man Booker Prize

Mahasweta Devi, novelist, author, activistOn Wednesday (18th March), fourteen authors across the world were been named as the contenders for the Man Booker International prize. The long list of writers includes the name of prolific veteran Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi.   Sir V. S. Naipaul is also included in the list. In all 14 authors from 12 countries have been nominated for Booker Prize, which is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. The prize given in two years carries prize money of 60,000 pounds and can be won by any author worldwide, provided their work is available in English.
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