National Integration

Almost 18 years ago,Tamil author Sivasankari was in Mysore,to participate in a literary meet that attempted to analyse The Color Purple by Alice Walker. “We had come together to discuss an African American woman’s work,but we knew very little about so many Indian writers. I felt the need to bring all of India’s official languages together,” says Sivasankari who released the fourth and final volume of Knit India Through Literature (Sahitya Akademi). The book was launched by Gulzar and Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo at the India International Centre on Wednesday evening.

A couple of years after The Color Purple evening,Sivasankari set out to interview novelists,short story writers,playwrights and poets across the country,with the sole purpose of introducing them to those who are not familiar with the language they write in. “The first volume dealt with the southern states,the second with the eastern states,the third with the western states and now the fourth volume features Hindi,Urdu and Punjabi writers,” says Sivasankari,who has put together the works of Krishna Sobti,Gulzar,Ajeet Caur,K S Duggal and Joginder Bal,among others. The book is priced at Rs 900 and is available at all Sahitya Akademi bookshops.