Thiruvananthapuram: An interactive session with Reshma Krishnan Barshikar about the nuances of catching the imagination of the young adult readers was held at Bamboo Groves in Kanakakunnu Palace as part of the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters 2019.
Poetess Parvathy Salil moderated the interaction between Reshma Barshikar and the audience.
Barshikar opened the session by talking about her books. She said that the teenagers are under tremendous pressure today to excel in all fields. This is affecting their imaginative skills. The young adult fantasy fictions are not only for young adults but for all age groups. At all age, one can experience all feelings like love, lust, anger, greed, adventure and so on. She is of the opinion that the short stories are not terribly tiny tales but a fantastic form of ultimate writing, an epitome of good writing.
Poets had influenced her life from childhood. She was much interested in fantasies and investigative crime fictions. Even though she admits that travel influenced her writing and pushed her into writing, she said that she is not traveling as such. Now she uses to travel more for attending literary fests. It is the responsibility of the writer to make the reader imaginative.
She had also read an excerpt from her book ‘The Hidden Children: The Lost Grimoire’, in which she tried to understand the concept of grace. She made eight specific graces in this book. A writer must research and experience before writing anything, she added. A deep talk on love and intensity of friendship beyond sexuality and romance took the conversation to another aesthetic level. In her personal opinion, writing workshops are extremely critical.
She winded up the session by advising the youth to finish anything that once you have begun. You write, read, give someone to read and get comments, she added. Barshikar’s creative brilliance mixed with the weaving words of Parvathy took the conversation to different level.
Many students and literary figures attended the event. Noted writer Thanuja Bhattathiri presented the mementos to Reshma Krishnan Barshikar and Parvathy Salil.
%20(1).jpg?$p=986b883&f=1x1&w=100&q=0.8)
