900 poets to be part of WTC TS to felicitate all Jnanpith awardees

“We plan to divide the poets into 35 teams. Each team will recite poems, starting from December 16 till 19. This programme will be conducted in LB Stadium. We are aiming for a record by conducting the kavi Sammelanamu for four days with nearly 1,000 poets at a time,” he added.

Three seminars will be held every day in the Telugu University auditorium. Debates on literary criticism, prose, poetry, novels, and songs will also be held.

Telangana Sahitya Academy chairman Nandini Sidda Reddy said Indira Priyadarshini Auditorium will host various events on December 16, 17 and 18 and Ravindra Bharathi from December 16 to 19.

“Special programmes on children’s literature and women's literature will be held in Indira Priyadarshini auditorium. Child poets and women writers will take part. A special debate with Indian and foreign literary women personalities will be held on December 19,” Mr Reddy added.

A debate on Telugu journalism will be held on December 17 and using Telugu in legal affairs and government administration will be on December 18. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday said that organising the World Telugu Conference was a matter of pride and prestige for the state government. He asked all departments and officials to ensure that fool-proof arrangements were in place for the event.

Mr Rao said that he wanted the Jnanpith Award winners of 13 Indian languages to be felicitated at the conference. “We should receive credit for having felicitated so many Jnanpith awardees,” he said at a meeting held with ministers and senior officials at Pragathi Bhavan to discuss arrangements for the conference.

Organisers said that about 8,000 delegates were expected to attend, and the CM said that every one of them should be treated with respect. He asked the organisers to individually assume responsibility for each of the locations, including LB Stadium, and ensure that there were no problems with respect to the delegates’ stay, food, or logistics. He asked them to ensure that proper transport arrangements we made for the delegates to be able to visit several daises in the morning and then reach the main venue in the evening.

Mr Rao said that he wanted cultural programmes and the screening of a documentary on Telangana state to be organised at LB Stadium on all five days of the conference. He said that Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu would inaugurate the event. “Crackers should be burst on a large scale,” he said.

“The WTC should make everyone feel that it is for all and that they are all invited. Every connoisseur of literature and language should get the message that anybody wishing to attend the conference is welcome,” the CM said.