Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival inaugurated

BIJOY GURUNG

Historic venue plays host to ‘historical’ literary event

YUKSOM,: The three-day Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival 2023 was inaugurated by Education minister KN Lepcha Saturday evening at Norbugang, Yuksom in West Sikkim.

Deputy Speaker Sangay Lepcha, ministers LN Sharma and Bhim Hang Subba, Lok Sabha MP Indra Hang Subba, MLA Aditya Golay, government officials, writers, achievers, students, guests and educationists from within and outside the State were present at the inaugural session along with the organizers.

The Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival 2023 is a national upgrade of the annual ‘Read & Grow’ literary initiative of the SKM students wing and is held in collaboration with Teamwork Arts and Sikkim government.

In his inaugural address, Education minister KN Lepcha shared to the gathering the historical significance of Yuksom for Sikkim, adding that the Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival is also a historical literary event. He endorsed that the event should be an annual affair while assuring to place this proposal during the upcoming cabinet meeting.

Lepcha credited the young team of SKM students wing for creating a literary history as such programmes at this scale had not been held in Sikkim. He informed that Chief Minister PS Golay would be attending the festival on Monday, the concluding day.

In his address, Lok Sabha MP Indra Hang Subba said the Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival is a “dream come true” moment for the SKM students wing which has been promoting reading culture through its previous two editions of ‘Read & Grow’ initiative.

‘Read & Grow’ book festivals had been held in Gangtok in 2021 and 2022.

“We had this vision and dream of a national literary festival when the SKM students wing first initiated to open a small book store in Pelling Tourism Festival 2020. Since then, we have been organizing book fairs to encourage our students to have a better understanding of literature and arts for development of society and Sikkim,” said Indra Hang, also the chief coordinator of SKM students wing.

If we go back into the history, Sikkim started as a nation from this blessed venue of Norbugang and today is a day when Sikkim is starting a journey of art and literature in the map of the world, said Indra Hang. He thanked Chief Minister PS Golay for his constant support and encouragement provided for organizing the festival.

Teamwork Arts’ Sanjoy Roy, in his speech, stressed on the importance of such arts and literature festival for promoting better understanding and communication among people coming from diverse backgrounds. He articulated that such creative celebrations play a vital role in countering ignorance, fear and violence among people.

Hans Jacob Frydenlund, the Norwegian Ambassador to India, was a special invitee for the three-day festival in Sikkim.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the Norwegian Ambassador expressed that he is honoured to be in Sikkim for the arts and literature event. He said the festival is “bringing the world to Sikkim” and bringing Sikkim outside to the world. He highlighted the importance of giving space and platform for small languages among the global community for better communication. Translation is also important so that the linguistic minorities can connect with other communities that speak the dominant languages so that the global family is together in line with the ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ motto of India’s G20 presidency, he said.

The inaugural session saw a folk music presentation by a cultural team from Pushkar, Rajasthan, a classical dance by a local group and a musical choir by students of EMRS, Gangyap.