Tamil writer Thoppil Mohammed Meeran has said that education was not a necessity for becoming a writer and that every individual had several experiences that were worthy of being made novels.
He was speaking after inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Neo Poetry—Past and Present,’ organised by Abhidha Literary and Theatre Movement, at Government Town U.P. School hall, Attingal, on Sunday.
Mr. Meeran lamented that there were very few writers who strived to sustain grammatical standards in their works.
Writer Pazhavila Ramesan presided over the function. Kerala University School of Indian Languages Director C.R. Rajagopalan and Calicut University Malayalam Department head K. Thomaskutty delivered the keynote addresses. Abhidha president R. Gopinathan spoke at the inaugural session.
Various speakers, including Varkala Gopalakrishnan, Ashraf, Chayam Dharmarajan, R. Satyajit, and R. Sunil Kumar delivered lectures on a wide range of topics relating to poetry such as ‘Individuality in Neo-poetry,’ ‘Modern aspects of poetry,’ ‘Group poetry and neo-poetry,’ ‘Organic nature of poetry,’ ‘Political struggles in neo-poetry,’ and ‘Varying views on poetry.’ Abhidha secretary R. Manoj moderated a debate on poetry. The participants of the debate included Vijila Chirappad, Ajith Muni, Viju Konnamood, Vijayan Palazhi, Anoop Valliath, Alphonse Chirayinkeezhu, Naseem Chirayinkeezhu and M.T. Viswathilakan.
Poet Radhakrishnan Kunnumpuram inaugurated a book fair that was organised in connection with the seminar.
