Thursday, November 28, 2013

ISM Award 2014

For the Isaac Sequeira Memorial Award 2014 four papers have been shortlisted for presentation at the February conference. The competing delegates are:

Debayan Deb Burman
Meenu Gupta
Neepa Sarkar
Sangeeta Singh

Competitors to note. 
This is a prestigious award, please put in your best effort.
All the best.

Delegate fee for the Feb 2014 conference

Details re: payment of delegate fee.
Deadline: Thursday, 5th December
Outstation delegates need to pay a Delegate Fee of Rs. 3,500 for the Conference, which would entitle them to the conference kit, food and accommodation on a shared basis for the duration of the conference (4 nights, 3 days, i.e., from Feb 20th evening to Feb 24th morning). 
Local Delegates from Jammu, and those who do not need accommodation, would need to pay a Delegate fee of Rs. 1200. This would entitle them to the Conference Kit, Lunches and refreshments during the Conference and also a special dinner / social evening with the delegates.
Two Modes of Payment: (i) The Delegate fee (as well as Membership Fee where required) may be paid personally in cash to Ravinder Singh of Jammu University OR to Meenu Gupta of Panjab University, Chandigarh. (ii) The Delegate fee (along with membership fee) may be paid directly vide bank-to-bank transfer.
MELOW bank details are: SB A/c No. with Canara Bank 2845101001459. The IFSC code of Canara Bank, PU, Chandigarh, is CNRB0002845. After transferring the money, send the details of transfer to Meenu Gupta, Treasurer, on email id meenug36@yahoo.in and to Ravinder Singh at raviiju@yahoo.com
If you have any further queries, or need any assistance, please feel free to contact Ravinder Singh atraviiju@yahoo.com
We look forward to your participation in the Conference which, however, will be treated as confirmed only on receipt of your delegate fee. Meanwhile, do keep track of updates via the google group, and also on our blog http://melusmelow.blogspot.in/

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: 
1.  IN CASE YOU ARE UNABLE TO JOIN THE GOOGLE GROUP -
2.  If you have paid your delegate fee you need to inform Dr Meenu Gupta who is handling membership and delegate fee. Her email id is meenug36@yahoo.in  
The updated list of delegates who have paid their dues is given below. Please check and revert in case of any discrepancy.

Message from Meenu Gupta:
All members who were two year members till 31.03.2013 cease to be members now.
The following names are added to the list of ten year and two year members. Life member List will remain unchanged.
2013-15 (Two Year Members)
1. Shivani Vashisht (SMVDU, Jammu)
2. Manjot kaur (Chandigarh)
3. Isha Malhotra (Jammu)
4. Gopal Verma(jammu)
5. Attiel Khawar balwan (jammu)
6. Hina Goel (jammu)
7. Ranjita Pati (Orissa)
8. Rajiv Katoch (Jammu)
9. Neela Sarkar (WB)
!0. Hari Dutt (Jammu)
11. Mujjeb Ali (Varanasi)
 12. Manjinder Wratch
13 Shiva Durga
14 Vinita Jha
15 Kushal Andrews Biswas
16 Shuchi Srivastava
17 Samina Azhar
18 Minakshi Prasad Mishra
19 Umasankar patra
 
Ten year Membership up to 31.03.2022
1. Monbinder
2. Nilakshi
3. Satyajit
4. Jayanta Kar.
 
 
Ten Year Membership up to 31.03.2023
1.Ambri Shukla
2. Sarabjeet
3. Sukhpreet Ghuman
4.Sunita Ghargrge
 
5 Charu Mishra
6 Shamenaz Shaikh

 
List of Delegates (paid Rs 3500)
1.     Shivani  Vashisht (Rs 1200)
2.      Satyamvada Singh
3.       Khemraj Sharama
4.     Jyoti Mishra
5.     A.k. Choudhary
6.      Vinita Jha
7.     Seema Bhupendra
8.      Ranjita Pati
9.      T. Ravichandran
10   Kushal Andrew Biswas
11.      Shuchi Srivastva
12.   Samina Azhar
13.    Suman Swati
14.  Ambri Shukla.
15 Neela Sarkar
16 Minakshi Prasad
17 pranav Joshipura
18Umasankar patra
19E.Mathew Spouse
20 Mulkul Sengupta
21 Ranjita Pati Spouse
22 Manju Jaidka
23 Anil Raina
24 Meenu Gupta
25Vandhana Sharma
26 
Seema Bawa

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

ISM Award Competitors 2014

This goes out to all the delegates competing for the Isaac Sequeira Memorial Award 2014.

Acceptance letters / regrets have been sent to all competitors. The deadline for full papers from delegates (whose ISM abstracts have been accepted) is 15th November. Please stick to the deadline and send your papers in time (by email to this id: melusmelow@gmail.com

Those whose abstracts have not made it to the ISM longlist need not send their full papers in. However, they  may consider  their abstracts accepted for presentation. A formal acceptance letter will be mailed to them.

Competing delegates who have not received any intimation may please contact me at the earliest.


As for the other abstracts (those not competing for the ISM award), they have been evaluated. Acceptance letters are being mailed. Full papers are needed only at the conference.

Those whose abstracts need to be resubmitted or have not been accepted have been informed already.

In case of any doubt please contact the undersigned or Ravinder Singh of Jammu.

Manju Jaidka
Secy, MELOW

Monday, June 17, 2013

THIRTEENTH MELOW CONFERENCE FEB 20114

THIRTEENTH MELOW CONFERENCE
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

MELOW
(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World)
&
MELUS-India
(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States)

Theme: “In a Wired World: Literature in the Age of Information Technology”
 Venue: University of Jammu, Jammu (J&K), India
 Date: 21-23 February 2014
 The 13th International MELUS-MELOW Conference will be held in Jammu in collaboration with the University of Jammu on 21-23 February 2014. 
The broad conference theme will be “In a Wired World: Literature in the Age of Information Technology”.  The focus will be on the various ways in which the dissemination of literature has undergone a sea-change in recent times with the advance in technology and information sciences.
Whereas earlier modes of transmission included the wandering story-teller, the oral tale and the printed book, literature today travels through technology from one place to another, from the teller to the recipient. Popular forms of communication now are the cinema, the TV and the internet.  All three provide entertainment as well as information.  Then there is also the Blogger and the Facebook, Twitter and other new inventions which are not only effective means of communication / dissemination of information today but also effective tools for the generating and sustaining an interest in the study of literature. Fast-paced technological advances made have re-shaped the cultural order of the world and also brought about radical changes in the field of literature.
The 2014 conference will be divided into panels that focus on the following sub-themes:
·       Impact of Technology on the Study of Literature (Poetry, Novel, Drama)
·       Sociological and Psychological Perspectives
·       Comics, Graphics, Animations, Children’s Literature
·       Role of the Media: Films, TV, Radio
·       Re-working of Classics in the Information Age
·       The Virtual Vs the Real World

Please note: (a) The focus will remain on literature. (b) In case of any overlapping of themes in the abstracts submitted, you may be asked to send another abstract on a different theme.
Your abstract (of about 250 wordsshould be sent in the TEXT BOX of the email (not as attachment). The following information, in the given format, should be sent along with the abstract:
Name of Delegate
Official designation
Address and email id
Title of Abstract
MELUS/MELOW conferences attended earlier (in which year and where)
Are you currently a member of MELUS or MELOW? Or do you need a fresh / renewed membership? Please specify.
ABSTRACT [Text]
EMAIL YOUR ABSTRACT TO:
•        The subject line of your message should read thus:
•        ABSTRACT 2013: [YOUR NAME] and [If applicable] - state if you are an Indian citizen below 40, competing for the ISM award
•        Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15 July 2013. 
All abstracts will be peer-reviewed before they are accepted.
In case of an over-lap (or if too many abstracts are received on similar themes) you may be asked to send another abstract. A second deadline be given for revised abstracts.
Do not send full papers. Once acceptance letters are sent full papers (approx 3,000 words) will be invited from participants (under 40 years of age) competing for the Isaac Sequeira Memorial Award.
Local Organizing Committee:
Prof. Satnam Kour
Prof. Posh Charak
Prof. Deepshikha Kotwal
Prof. Sucheta Pathania
Dr. Monika Sethi
Dr. Sadaf Shah
Dr. Ravinder Singh
Dr. Garima Gupta
MELOW
(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World)
&
MELUS-India
(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States)


President: Prof Sushila Singh, BHU, Varanasi.
Vice-President: Prof Anil Raina, PU, Chandigarh.
Secretary: Prof Manju Jaidka, PU, Chandigarh.
Jt. Secy: Dr Manpreet Kaur, IPU, Delhi.
Treasurer: Dr Meenu Gupta, PU, Chandigarh.
  
Executive Members:
·       Prof Ashis Sengupta (Darjeeling
·       Dr Vijay Sharma (Delhi)
·       Dr A. Hari Prasad (Hyderabad)
·       Dr Roshan Sharma (Solan, HP)
·       Dr RG Kulkarni (Sangli)
·       Dr Pranav Joshipura (Gujrat)
·       Dr Seema Bhupendra (Rajasthan)
·       Dr Neela Sarkar (WB)
·       Dr Ravinder Singh (Jammu)
·       Dr Jyoti Mishra (CG)

Advisory Board:
·       Prof Paul Giles, Oxford University 
·      Prof Mukesh Williams, Soka University, Japan
·       Prof Sushi Dutta-Sandhu, U Mich, Kalamazoo, USA
·       Prof E. Nageswara Rao

Friday, February 22, 2013

Photographs




Photos of the 2013 Conference are available here:

Ypu may download if you wish.
:)
MJ

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Newsletter Feb 2013


Chandigarh 8-10 Feb 2013

The 12th international conference of MELOW on “Patterns of Story Telling: Traditions, Innovations, Visions and Revisions” was held at Panjab University, Chandigarh. This year it dovetailed into the Fourth Chandigarh Festival of Letters (organized by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi) which was inaugurated by Sh KK Sharma, Adviser to the Administrator. Presiding over the event was the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Prof AK Grover.  

Prof Cheryl Johnson, from the Miami U of Ohio, gave the keynote for the MELOW Conference. Her presentation was entitled “A Simple, Awful Truth: African American Storytelling and the Pursuit of Freedom” and the subject was slave narratives. She focused on the agony, pain and fear in the writings of AfroAmerican memoirs. The keynote set the tone for the conference which focused on different aspects of story-telling, adaptations and revisions. The opening session was followed by four parallel sessions in which twelve different papers were presented by visiting delegates. 

In the evening a special programme was held for the visiting delegates. Irshad Kamil, lyricist-poet who is an alumnus of Panjab University, interacted with the audience in a late evening session. He spoke of popular and elitist literature, talked about the difference between poetry and film songs, critiquing the reasons why there is sometimes a bias against the latter. Irshad's session was greatly appreciated by the audience who wanted him to recite more and more of his poetry.

The second day began with several parallel sessions that were conducted smoothly, keeping to a strict time schedule.  By lunch time more than forty registered delegates of the conference had presented papers on different aspects of the theme. These were divided into fifteen parallel sessions that ran back-to-back through the morning. The post-lunch sessions were devoted to Conference papers again, with fifteen more scholars presenting their papers in six different sessions.  Chairing these sessions were senior scholars from Chandigarh and also from other parts of the country. Several foreign delegates also presented papers.

The highlight of the evening was another interactive CSA session with two budding creative writers who have scaled the heights of success: Vikram Sampath from Bangalore, best known for his novel My Name is Gauhar Jaan, and Siddhartha Gigoo, author of the acclaimed novel The Garden of Solitude. Listening to these two very young writers was a delightful experience.  Present at the evening session was Shri KK Sharma,  the Adviser to the Administrator, who evidently enjoyed the sessions with the writers.

On the final day of the MELUS-MELOW Conference there were more than thirty scholarly presentations in nine parallel sessions and one plenary. The highlight of the day was the special Isaac Sequeira Memorial Session in which three outstanding papers by young scholars were presented.  In memory of the late Professor Isaac Sequeira (of Osmania University) who was a leading academician and the patron of MELUS-India and MELOW, the ISM Award is given to a scholar below forty years of age for the best conference presentation. It is essential that competing scholars should meet all necessary deadlines for submission of abstracts and full papers. Thereafter, the written papers are evaluated by a panel of senior professors and three best papers are selected for presentation in the ISM Session of the conference. The award is highly prestigious and hotly coveted by younger scholars.

This year there were 27 abstracts submitted for the ISM Award, of which 10 were long-listed. The ten full papers were then evaluated and three were shortlisted for final presentation.  Navreet Sahi, PhD scholar from the English Dept of Panjab University, competed for the award with Garima Williams of Kanpur and Sangeeta Singh of Hamirpur. The competition was very close as all three presentations were outstanding and it was very difficult for the judges (senior professors: Sushila Singh of BHU, Mukesh Williams from Japan, and Meera Malik from Chandigarh) to arrive at a decision. Finally the award went to Garima Williams but the other two candidates were also highly commended by the judges. The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000. Professor Sushila Singh delivered the special ISM Lecture. Her subject was  'Art of Self-Telling: Reading Annie Besant's An Autobiography' and it blended well with the conference theme.

The final Vote of Thanks brought to a satisfactory conclusion the three-day festival of letters. There was a glow of happiness on all faces, the sense of satisfaction that comes from an enriching experience.

A General Body Meeting was held in which several decisions were taken. The main points discussed are listed below. 

·       The GBM began with a statement of accounts by the treasurer, Anil Raina, which was passed by the General Body.  Although the society is in good financial health, it was proposed that there was a need to increase the delegate fee for future conferences. The exact amount would be decided by the host institution after working out the costs.
·       Revised papers of this conference (2013) should be submitted for possible publication to aneelraina@gmail.com by the 1st of March 2013.
·       The venue for the next conference was discussed. There were several delegates from Jammu who volunteered to hold the conference at Jammu University.  A proposal also came in from Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.  The house discussed the matter and it was decided that (i) the next international conference in 2014 would be held in Jammu; and (ii) LPU may think of hosting a smaller regional / local conference / seminar. Formal proposals need to be submitted, however, detailing the time schedule and the format of the proposed events.
·       The theme for the next conference has to be finalized. Tentatively, the house agreed on “In a Wired World: Literature in the Age of Information Technology”. The final title along with the concept note will be circulated soon. Meanwhile suggestions from delegates are welcome.
·       Time and date:  the host institution will decide on the date of the next conference and convey the same at the earliest. Deadlines for abstracts, etc will be announced thereafter.
·       The following Office Bearers were elected for the next two conferences:

President: Prof Sushila Singh, BHU, Varanasi.
Vice-President: Prof Anil Raina, PU, Chandigarh.
Secretary: Prof Manju Jaidka, PU, Chandigarh.
Jt. Secy: Dr Manpreet Kaur, IPU, Delhi.
Treasurer: Dr Meenu Gupta, PU, Chandigarh.

Executive Members:
§  Prof Ashis Sengupta (Darjeeling
§  Dr Vijay Sharma (Delhi)
§  Dr A. Hari Prasad (Hyderabad)
§  Dr Roshan Sharma (Solan, HP)
§  Dr RG Kulkarni (Sangli)
§  Dr Pranav Joshipura (Gujrat)
§  Dr Seema Bhupendra (Rajasthan)
§  Dr Neela Sarkar (WB)
§  Dr Ravinder Singh (Jammu)
§  Dr Jyoti Mishra (CG)
Advisory Board:
• Prof Paul Giles, Oxford University 
• Prof Mukesh Williams, Soka University, Japan
• Prof Sushi Dutta-Sandhu, U Mich, Kalamazoo, USA
• Prof E. Nageswara Rao, Hyderabad





Sunday, February 10, 2013

MELOW International conference, 8-10 February 2013


8-10 Feb 2013

The 12th international conference of MELOW began this morning at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. This year it dovetailed into the  Fourth Chandigarh Festival of LettersThis year's conference and festival was inaugurated by Sh KK Sharma, Adviser to the Administrator and the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Prof AK Grover.  

Prof Cheryl Johnson, from the Miami U of Ohio, gave the keynote for the MELOW Conference. Her subject was slave narratives and she focused on the agony, pain and fear in the writings of AfroAmerican memoirs. She set the tone for the conference which focuses on different aspects of story-telling, adaptations and revisions. Her session was followed by parallel sessions in which twelve different papers were presented by visiting delegates. 

In this morning's CSA event such awards were given to eight city litterateurs who have made lived a life dedicated to literature and a significant contribution to its promotion: Ms Sarjit Kalha, an exemplary teacher who has spent forty years or more teaching literature in the city and inculcated the love of literature among thousands of her students, was the first to receive the CSA Award of Recognition. Others recipients were Sultan Anjum and Shree Ram Arsh (Urdu), Renuka Nayyar, Prem Vij and Dr Paresh (Hindi), Subhash Sharma  (Punjabi), and Vandana R. Singh (translation).

Irshad Kamil, lyricist-poet who is an alumnus of Panjab University, interacted with the audience in a late evening session. He spoke of popular and elitist literature, talked about the difference between poetry and film songs, critiquing the reasons why there is sometimes a bias against the latter. Irshad's session was greatly appreciated by the audience who wanted him to recite more and more of his poetry.

Day 2: 9th Feb:

The second day began early in the morning with several parallel sessions of the 12th MELOW International conference on Story-telling Patterns.  By lunch time more than forty registered delegates of the conference had presented papers on different aspects of the theme. These were divided into fifteen parallel sessions that ran back-to-back through the morning. Chairing these sessions were senior scholars from Chandigarh and also from other parts of the country. Several foreign delegates also presented papers.

Simultaneously, the events of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi were held with interactive sessions between the audience and three well-known writers: Mamta Kalia who is bi-lingual and writes in Hindi and in English, Manjula Rana who writes in Hindi, and Gauri Shankar Raina who translates from Kashmiri into Hindi and English.  These are writers engaged in taking their stories out of limiting confines, into a wider world, to a larger readership. 

the post-lunch sessions were devoted to Conference papers again, with fifteen more scholars presenting their papers in six different sessions. 

The highlight of the evening was another interactive CSA session with two budding creative writers who have scaled the heights of success: Vikram Sampath from Bangalore, best known for his novel My Name is Gauhar Jaan, and Siddhartha Gigoo, author of the acclaimed novelThe Garden of Solitude. Listening to these two very young writers was a delightful experience. Vikram was in animated conversation with Aradhika Sharma while Anil Rain engaged  Gigoo in an interesting tete-a-tete.

Present at the evening session was Shri KK Sharma,  the Adviser to the Administrator, who evidently enjoyed the sessions with the writers. A versatile person, interested in the arts, literature and the finer aspects of life, Shri Sharma gave his own point of view on the relation between literature and history, between an individual's perception and a public catastrophe, as he mingled freely with the delegates after the session.

Over all, it was a rich and fruitful day at the Chandigarh festival of Letters, made even more meaningful with the participation of the hundred odd delegates of the conference who relished the experience and made the best use of the intellectual feast.  The festival clearly has an academic tinge to its activities. This, perhaps, is its USP: seriousness, purpose and direction, all aimed at sharing the spirit of humanity that one understands best through literature.


Day 3: 10 Feb:

On the final day of the MELUS-MELOW Conference there were more than thirty scholarly presentations in  nine parallel sessions and one plenary. The highlight of the day was the special Isaac Sequeira Memorial Session in which three outstanding papers by young scholars were presented.

In memory of the late Professor Isaac Sequeira (of Osmania University) who was a leading academician and the patron of MELUS-India and MELOW, the ISM Award is given to a scholar below forty years of age for the best conference presentation. It is essential that competing scholars should meet all necessary deadlines for submission of abstracts and full papers. Thereafter, the written papers are evaluated by a panel of senior professors and three best papers are selected for presentation in the ISM Session of the conference. The award is highly prestigious and  hotly coveted by younger scholars.

This year there were 27 abstracts submitted for the ISM Award, of which 10 were long-listed. The ten full papers were then evaluated and three were shortlisted for today's presentation.  Navreet Sahi, PhD scholar from the English Dept of Panjab University, competed today with Garima Williams of Kanpur and Sangeeta Singh of Hamirpur for the award. The competition was very close as all three presentations were outstanding and it was very difficult for the judges (senior professors: Sushila Singh of BHU, Mukesh Williams from Japan, and Meera Malik from Chandigarh) to arrive at a decision. Finally the award went to Garima Williams but the other two candidates were also highly commended by the judges. The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000.

Post-lunch, the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi's meet-the-writer sessions were also a great success.  Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam from Bombay was in interaction with Balpreet in the first session. She recited some of her poems to an appreciative audience. Meghna Pant, author of the best-selling novel One and a Half Wife, was engaged in a witty repartee by Vivek Atray. She spoke about the process of publication, marketing and promoting the novel. Her forthcoming collection of short stories, Happy Birthday, will soon be out in the market. In the final session Amandeep Sandhu was in conversation with Siddhartha Gigoo, himself a writer of note.  Amandeep's first novel, Sepia Leaves was a success and the new novel Roll of Honour, has been recently published to wide acclaim.

The concluding session of the Festival brought in a large number of young students from Chandigarh schools and colleges along with their parents. They came to receive prizes for the creative writing events that the CSA has been conducting through the year. Shri Vivek Pratap Singh, Commissioner for Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, gave away the prizes and the certificates and later congratulated them on their achievements. Altogether about forty children happily received prizes this evening.

This brought to a satisfactory conclusion the three-day festival of letters. There was a glow of happiness on all faces, the sense of satisfaction that comes from an enriching experience.