A day-long "Ganga-Jamuna Literature Festival" was held in a festive atmosphere in Kaliganj, Satkhira. The festival of goodwill, harmony and respect was organised on the theme "Union, not separation, is fundamental".

It was held on Saturday 5 November at the Satkhira regional office of the non-governmental development organisation Shushilan, organised by the Kaliganj Upazila Shilpakala Academy.

At 10am Deputy Commissioner Md Humayun Kabir opened the event by hoisting the national flag, planting a friendship tree and releasing pigeons.

The chief guest was poet Abdus Samad Faruk, former secretary of the Ministry of Shipping. Essayist Gazi Azizur Rahman presided.

Present at the literary session were Bangla Academy Literary Award-winning poet and fiction writer Hossainuddin Hossain; Mostafa Nuruzzaman, chief executive of Shushilan and a reciter; NGO figure Mostafa Aktaruzzaman; poet and children's writer Imrul Yusuf; poets Farhad Khan Chowdhury, Anindya Anis, Poltu Basar and Shubhro Ahmed; reciter Moniruzzaman Chhottu; poet S M Tuhin; children's writer Bablu Bhanja Chowdhury; poets Dilruba Rubi, Tripti Mohan Mallik, Kishori Mohan Sarkar and Sauhardya Siraj; poet and journalist Sukumar Das Bachchu; poets Ila Mallik, Zafrullah Ibrahim, Prankrishna Sarkar and Arabinda Mridha; reciter Sahitya Bhanja Chowdhury; Indian poet Dr Kanai Sen; poet Kallol Ghoshal; artist Anjana Goswami and others.

The second session featured readings of the poets' own poems, discussion of the poems read and a prize-giving, presided over by S M Harun-ur Rashid. The festival ended in the evening with a cultural programme.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.