The Chandigarh Press Club, an institution run by the journalists, for the journalists, is hosting the inaugural edition of the Journalists’ Literature Festival from February 23 to 25 at the club premises.

The unique initiative is the first of its kind in the country, featuring moderators, authors/translators, panelists, and experts exclusively from the journalistic fraternity.

The inaugural edition of the Journalists Literature Festival aims to showcase the literary endeavors of journalists, providing a platform to them to discuss their books and explore topics impacting society at large.

The theme of the journalists’ literature festival is ‘by the journalists, for the society’. The three-day event is open to public.

Over 50 seasoned journalists from the Chandigarh region (Haryana-Punjab-Chandigarh), Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata and Bangalore will be part of the three-day event.

The sessions will be conducted in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

The opening session of the lit fest will be about Unveiling Valour: Stories of Indian military’s bravery, fearlessness, and the quest of our missing soldiers. Television journalist Shiv Aroor, who has co-authored the book series on India’s most fearless, along with independent journalist Chander Suta Dogra, who is an author of ‘Missing soldiers’, will be part of the opening session. Journalist Aishwarya Khosla will moderate the session.

The second session of the first-day will be about the Significance of Translation in Spreading Information, Knowledge and Ideas across Linguistic Boundaries. Senior journalists Shayda Bano, Davi Davinder Kaur, Chetan Thakur, Khushboo Sandhu will put light on the importance of translation.

The third session of the day will be – From poetry to prose: The Significance of Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi literature and its regional identity. Seasoned journalists and authors Dr Chander Trikha, Kanwaljit Singh Bainwat and Manmohan Gupta Moni, will be the speakers and Shimla based journalist Navneet Sharma will moderate the session.

The sessions will be followed by ‘Kavi Sammelan’ in which the journalists from the region will recite their poetry.

Day two will start with the session about narrative evolution in Hindi journalism from short to long format. Senior journalists and authors Asha Arpit, Mayank Mishra and Ranju Arey will be part of the panel and journalist Barinder Singh Rawat will moderate the session.

The second session of day two will be about Sports in India: Cricket vs Others. Seasoned cricket journalist Vijay Lokapally, Television presenter Vikrant Gupta, hockey writer Prabhjot Singh will be part of the session and Umesh Sharma will moderate it.

It will be followed by a session on national and regional politics –

Political Narrative in state and national elections: BJP versus the opposition. Seasoned journalists Jagtar Singh, Manraj Grerwal, Jatin Gandhi and Nidhi Sharma will be part of the session.

The last session of the second day will be – Is India-US relationship the most defining partnership of the 21st century. Seasoned journalists Ramesh Vinayak, Varghese K George, Rahul Singh and Jayant Jacob will share their expert views on the topic.

The second day of the lit fest will have a musical evening and a game of tambola for the members of the Chandigarh Press Club.

The third day will start with a session on fiction writing – Mirroring social concern and changes through fiction. Panelists of the session are authors Chetna Keer, Aditya Kant, Sanjay Versain and senior journalist Aruti Nayyar will moderate the session.

The third session of the third day will be about cricket and society. The objectivity challenge: Cricket, society and journalism. Seasoned cricket writers Pradeep Magazine, Sharda Ugra and Rohit Mahajan will be part of the session.

The last session of the literature festival will be exploring women’s issues in Indian society. Seasoned journalists and authors Nirupama Dutt, Veenu Sandhu and Sohini Chattopadhya will be part of the session and Independent journalist Arshdeep Arshi will moderate the session.