Stories, Poems and Art Define Fifth Day of 4th Gomti Book Festival At Lucknow University
Lucknow: As the sun rose over the lawns of the University of Lucknow on the fifth day of the Gomti Book Festival, the day came alive with a celebration of imagination, dialogue, and culture. Workshops for children continued to win hearts; literary discussions stirred the minds of book lovers and an evening of poetry, music and dance once again drew readers, writers and art lovers in large numbers.
Hundreds gather at Children’s Pavilion
The Children’s Pavilion quickly filled up with 800 children from nine schools beaming with excitement, ready to learn new forms of crafts bringing them closer to the world of books and creativity. The day began with an interesting Storyboard exercise with Amrit Nagpal. In a unique spin on creative writing, they were taught to brainstorm a story and then use their shared ideas to illustrate it. They were then introduced to the Japanese art of origami with Namik Sherpa, who taught them how to create unique and functional paper planes using simple paper folding.
Team National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL) organised an engaging session teaching children how to make bookmarks and introduced to Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya app, India’s national digital library, which offers free access to over 3,000 e-books across genres and Indian languages.
Lekhakganj: A Hub of Literary Exchange

The first session of the fifth day’s literary dialogue at Gomti Book Festival, titled ‘Technology’s Intervention in Translation,’ brought together well-known translators of various languages. The participants included Punjabi-Hindi translator Subhash Nirav, Odia translator Dr. Rajendra Prasad Mishra and Marathi translator Samiksha Tailang. The session was coordinated by renowned journalist and translator Pritpal Kaur. During the discussion, the speakers highlighted the unique characteristics, idioms and beauty of their respective languages and pointed out the benefits of technology in translation while cautioning about some of its potential dangers.
The next session, titled ‘Stree Asmita ke Prashn: Kuchh Bheetar, Kuchh Baahar,’ featured a thought-provoking debate on women’s issues, gender discrimination and rights. Renowned literary figures participated in the discussion, including Dr. Rajni Gupta, Dr. Vivek Mishra, Kanchan Singh Chauhan and Swati Chaudhary. All the speakers advocated for equal partnership in domestic work, alongside equality in economic opportunities and education.
Poetry Meets Performance
The evening of Day 5 resonated with artistic brilliance, beginning with a Kavi Sammelan that brought together eminent poets including Dr. Sanjay Mishra ‘Shauq’, Dr. Surya Kumar Pandey, Ram Prakash ‘Bekhud’, Mukul ‘Mahan’, Dr. Suman Dubey, Anupam Srivastava ‘Anupam’, Gyan Prakash ‘Akur’, Pankaj ‘Prasoon’, Shashi ‘Shreya’, Somnath Kashyap, and Pawan Prageet, whose evocative verses enthralled the audience. The cultural spirit continued with a vibrant music and dance performance by the students of Lucknow University, adding rhythm and energy to the festival’s literary ambience.
