Words are the only victors! Mark your register for the pan-India VoW

August , the eighth month of the year has indeed brought it its wake good auguries for the eighth  edition of we  VoW ! Team VoW  called on  Lt Gen(Retd)  Gurmit Singh , the  Governor of Uttarakhand on the Tuesday the 6th of August  and on  the Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami  the next day  the 7th of August , and received their in -principle confirmations for the inauguration and valediction of the  signature event  of eighth edition of VoW scheduled for  16th -17th November. Of the books presented to the Governor, he expressed keen interest in The Victory City by Salman Rushdie , and in his own inimitable way, he read out the most relevant extract :

I have lived to see an empire rise and fall.How are they remembered now, these kings, these queens?They exist now only in words . . .I myself am nothing now. All that remains is this city of words.Words are the only victors.

Team VoW also briefed  Chief Minister Dhami  about  significant highlights  , especially  the Lead@VoW  intergenerational  connect to link the eight  knowledge intuitions of Doon with select schools. Thus,   Survey of India has been tied up with Doon International School, the National Hydrographic Office with Jaswant Modern Senior Secondary School, the Forest Research Institute with Gyananda , Wildlife Institute with St.Kabeer Academy, Swami Rama Himalayan University with Mount Fort Academy, Dwijendra Nath Sen Memorial Centre with  Him Jyoti, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology with The Tons Bridge School, and last , but not the least , the Sakya College with Kasiga School

This , along  with an INTACH curated  exhibition  of  eight  museums of Uttarakhand , eight sessions  based on Book Awards  and eight book launches for the citizens of Dehradun will make it a  festival of literature and arts in the truest sense of the turn. But then, VoW is growing and reaching out  newer geographies  and niche demographics , thereby making it  a Dehradun based pan India festival .Our  visions is to take VoW authors to intuitions and audiences where their genre and learning would be appreciated and vice versa. Our curated list  is drawn  exclusively from authors who have participated in VoW events : the Book Awards, Afternoons with an Author , Author from the Valley or Candid Conversation. So, while all award-winning authors do come to the signature event , the wider circle travels to different institutions across the country to ensure that learning , critical questioning , and lateral thinking strikes deeper roots .

Come September

There are three major milestones to be  accomplished in September . We have the G-Literati  at Indore, Shabdavali - the Hindi Knowledge vertical- at the Graphic Era group of  institutions  and the announcements of the REC VoW Awards.

Let’s begin with G -Literati. Readers may be aware  that over the  last three years    VoW  has collaborated  with our partners – the AFS Schools and Daly College Indore for  sessions on  ‘ Writings for Young Adults’ at Daly College Indore on the 2nd September .  The Dehradun connect cannot be missed for Principal Gunmeet Bindra was earlier  helming the Welham Boys  school for several  years before she moved to one of the most prestigious  boarding schools of India , where she also makes it a point to invite many AFS affiliated schools  from across the country ,thereby making it a true meeting of young minds willing  to engage in conversations about their country , and the  steps necessary for  leading India to the pole position by 2047.

VoW will celebrate the Hindi Pakhwara(fortnight) in the second week of September by inviting  fifteen authors in each of the  three categories of Hindi Fiction, non-fiction and translations from the Bhashas of Bharat into Hindi. The books include biographies , critical commentaries , poems, plays , adaptations and translations .Some sessions are dedicated to Nari Shakti – and books related to empowerment and gender equality will be discussed . Graphic Era will also be organizing exhibitions of visual and creative arts as well as performances by the leading folk artists of the state .

On the last day of the month viz September 30, we will make the much-awaited announcements of the eight winners – this will then set the ball rolling for the signature event. All the eight winners ,who have won the stage for their command over words will be in intense conversations with readers and critics who would have read the books well in advance – our forte lies in giving the authors an engaged readership  for nuanced conversations .

The three events in October

October will also be a very busy month for VoW.  On the first Sunday of the month , we  will celebrate the best of children’s writings at Dehradun’s Him Jyoti school, where children will render these offerings as skits, recitals, short plays , poems and in their myriad sartorial expressions. Soon thereafter , the VoW team moves  to Indus School and the Flame University of Pune  with our select authors  dealing with issues concerning young people and their expectations  about the future of our country . There is a Dehradun connect here as well, for the Principal  Sandeep Chhabra  is also the ex-Principal of Kasiga. Our Iti Nritya curator Shalini Rao will also be holding the workshop on Indian knowledge and heritage with the  schools of Pune .

Another interesting tie up this year is with the South Asian University , the MEA supported university based out of New Delhi. Discussions will focus on the common heritage and the civilizational connect in the sub-continent. From the Ramayana and the Mahabharat to the  GT Road  and common strategies to address issues of growth and development in line with the SDGs of the UN, the VoW@SAU will feature our award wining author Rajiv Dogra , besides TCA Raghavan, Tilak Deveshar , Debashis Mitra , Bharat Thakker , Lalit Mansingh C Raja Mohan  and a cultural programme from the Mohini  Foundation. An exhibition of award-winning books, and philately from across the SAARC nations will be another important aspect of this endeavour.

Post our signature event  in November , we will proceed to Chennai in December  where together with the Chennai International Centre , we are organizing a session on Translations from Bhashas of Bharat into English, besides works from our fiction and non-fiction categories and the two verticals of children and young adults. But before we close the calendar year, we would have made the announcement for the REC VoW book Awards 2025 , a very special year, for this will  mark the silver Jubilee of Uttarakhand !