Progressive Writers Association or Abhyudaya Rachayithala Sangam (ARASAM) brought out a book ‘Katha Sravanthi’, a set of books having short stories written by veteran Telugu writers, in a bid to reintroduce them to the contemporary society, especially the young generation.
The book was released by Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Mandali Buddha Prasad in Tirupati last week, which marked the 80 years of literary journey by the Progressive Writers Association at the national level. ‘Katha Sravanthi’ is a set of small books, each containing stories by Sripada Subrahmanya Sastri, Ampasayya Naveen, Singamaneni Narayana, Sripathi, Abburi Chayadevi, Boya Jangaiah, Papineni Sivasankar, Pusapati Krishnam Raju, A.N. Jagannatha Sarma, R. Vasundhara Devi and Mudiganti Sujatha Reddy.
“Book reading as a positive habit improves the mental strength, intellect and thus the overall personality of a child”, observed Mr. Buddha Prasad. According to Sakam Nagaraja, State Organising Secretary of ARASAM, the idea is to kindle book reading habit among children by weaning them away from films, video games and television soaps. He acted as the convener of the ‘Kathala Badi’, a story-telling contest conducted in schools across Chittoor district to inculcate creativity and narrative techniques among children.
It may be recalled that a similar compendium series was brought out by ARASAM’s Guntur district unit some four years back, containing short stories by Chaganti Somayajulu, Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, Madhurantakam Rajaram, Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah, Kolakaluri Enoch, Ketu Viswanatha Reddy, Allam Seshagiri Rao, P. Satyavathi, Allam Rajaiah, Volga, Buchibabu and Munipalle Raju, which turned out to be a big hit. The book is available at Visalandhra Book House across the state.
ARASAM national Secretary Penugonda Lakshminarayana, state President and ‘Sahitya Akademi’ awardee Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy, General Secretary Valluru Sivaprasad, State Teachers Union (STU) President Kathi Narasimha Reddy, Yogi Vemana University professor M.M. Vinodhini took part.
Ganta Mohan and Yuvasri Murali, the President and General Secretary respectively of Chittoor district unit, conducted the proceedings.
