With the arrival of the nation-wide lockdown and the impending dangers of covid-19, many scheduled onground literary events got canceled which stumped the spirit of readers and writers. Keeping the current situation in mind, the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur English Club introduced an innovative change of plans to their Annual Literature Festival this year. They organized the Annual Literature Festival online, in association with My Secret Bookshelf – an online book Store & book club. The program of the three day festival which started on 16th July ‘21 was packed with various competitions as well as panel discussions by eminent authors. The competitions viz – In Your Words, Tell Tale, Scavenger Hunt – were organised on 16th & 18th July ‘21 for students of NIT Hamirpur & other associated colleges. On 17th July ‘21 was organised Storytellers’ Spacecraft, where thirteen bestselling authors were invited to participate for the panel discussions. Storytellers’ Spacecraft had nine sessions in total each moderated by a member of the English Club. The first panel guests were authors Monika Bharti & Devika Das who shared their respective opinions on Power of the Pack: Women Supporting Women, next was the dynamic duo authors Manbir Kaur & Megha Bajaj who spoke on the topic of The 1 Percent & highly motivated the young students and participant. Authors Sonia Sahijwani & Charu Vashishtha Gulati’s panel topic was Fitting Reality Within a Few Short Pages which was followed by A Digital Storytelling session by prominent author Sabarna Roy. Science Fiction is the Reality we share was the topic for authors Nita Bajoria & Nilutpal Gohain . Young authors Aanchal Arora & Aditi Chandak opened their hearts out on the topic Almosts. Author Rahul Saini answered student’s questions related to life & relationships in the session titled Camouflaged Life . Authors Anushree & Vijayalatha discussed & shared many helpful tips on Mind Body & Soul. The 3 hour long Storytellers’ Spacecraft came to an end with Antara Bhattacharjee, Founder My Secret Bookshelf sharing her ideas on best reads.
This initiative by NIT Hamirpur English Club in association with My Secret Bookshelf brought together speakers and audience from all over the country with greater ease and at a fraction of the cost compared to an onground event. The hardwork of the English Club was apparent in their synced panel sessions which made the festival run smoothly. The English Club of NIT-Hamirpur was successful in igniting fire in the students to share their writings and their opinions & to listen to the celebrated authors in this 3 day Annual Literature Festival in association with My Secret Bookshelf.
English Club, the sole literary club of NITH is like a jigsaw puzzle where every piece eventually finds its place. The versatility of this club is so much that the promotion of literature is merely a small part of it. The club activities extend from a trenchant skit during the cultural festivals to various fun events at stalls followed by organisation of Youth Parliament and The Literature Annual Festival. NIT Hamirpur English Club fought against all odds – the pandemic being the biggest one – didn’t let the obstacles come in their way to deter them from organising this year’s Annual Literature Festival.
My Secret Bookshelf is an online book store and a virtual book club which has members from all across the country and the members meet every month for a virtual meet up to talk about the book of the month. For more information visit My Secret Bookshelf
