150 budding poets to attend the meet

HYDERABAD: Besides Jnanpith awardees, a total of 150 children, young and budding poets, are likely to be part of the World Telugu Conference, which will begin here on December 15.
Some of these young and budding writers will be flying in from other countries. Srujan Reddy is one such youngster who will come from London, while another is Sita Ramaraju who will be coming down from South Africa. They will have an opportunity to showcase their works at the conference. 

“Though we have not categorised the events during these five days, there is an ample opportunity for children and budding writers to interact with veterans and also showcase their own poetry and writing,” informed Nandini Sidha Reddy, renowned poet and chairperson of Telangana Sahitya Akademi. The efforts and contributions made by Telangana poets will be the main focus, he added. 

Besides budding poets, some noted writers such as Afsar Mohammad, lecturer of Foreign Languages at South Asia Studies Department at University of Pennsylvania, will be present. His writings are focused on Hindu-Muslim interactions in the Telugu States. He also currently edits a Telugu web weekly magazine, Saranga. Narayanaswamy Venkata Yogi, from Siddipet who currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey is a another published poet who will be present at the conference. 

Prabhavati C Reddy, who works at the George Mason University is working on a book focusing in the lives and folk song traditions of Telangana women in South India, will also be present. Several other poets and writers like Sangaveni Ravindra from Mumbai, Kalipatnam Rama Rao, Rachapalem Chandrashekara Reddy and several other award winning poets and litterateurs will be present.