Prutha Goa

Fundação Oriente India prides itself on embracing languages that reflect Goa’s rich linguistic history within the sphere of its biennial Goan Short Stories Competition. The participants can submit their entries in Konkani (Romi or Devanagari scripts), English, Marathi and Portuguese in 1,000 to 3,000 words. The competition began in 2011 and following every edition of the competition there has been a release of a book containing stories by the winner and finalists. The 2015 edition of the Goan Short Stories Competition resulted in Monsoon Winds: Short Stories from Goa . Nayana Adarkar’s ‘Rakhondar: The Protector’ is a reminder of the patriarchal system that has its vice grip on Indian women wherein women are passed on from one male family member to another under the guise of protection. She derides this system of protection by pointing out that it is she who ends up doing all the protecting. The position of the middle class and lower middle class Indian woman is still to a large extent

Stars Next Door by Cyprian (Skip) Fernandes is a compilation of the stories of East African Goans who shone as sportspersons and musicians. The book, which is a tribute to the prowess of this section of the Goan diaspora, carries contributions from other authors like Hartman de Souza. It is interesting to learn how Goan talent was nurtured to the extent it was, bringing in international recognition in some cases. The Goa, 1556 published book is admirable in its efforts to keep alive the memory of these impressive men and women who achieved much with fewer facilities than we have in these times. The making of Seraphino Antao, a record-breaking ace sprinter from Kenya, is quite a tale. From a barefoot sprinter, he rose to become a double gold winner at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. His retirement from athletics was a follow-up to a heart-breaking loss at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Albert Castanha was an all-round sportsman, excelling in soccer, hockey, cricket, badminto

Tishani Doshi has quite an impressive oeuvre as a poet, author, journalist, and dancer. The Madras-born Tishani has written essays, poems and short stories that are part of anthologies. Her first novel, titled The Pleasure Seekers , was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the Johns Hopkins University, USA. Countries of the Body , her maiden collection of poems, won the Forward Prize (Best First Collection) in 2006, while ‘The Day we went to the Sea’ from the same book won the 2005 British Council-supported All India Poetry Competition. As a dancer, Tishani was mentored by the late, famed choreographer Chandralekha and was part of her dancing troupe till her death in 2006. The release of Tishani’s new collection of poems Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods will be held at The Cube Gallery in Moira, Goa, at 7pm, with a reading of her poems and a performance of experimental dance by Tishani. It was at the age of twenty that Tishani became en

Memoirs take us back into the past, into a history that may be erased and its valuable essence lost if it is not preserved through documentation. Aloysius D’Souza’s Homeward Bound is a happy example of keeping memories of the past intact and available to future generations. Aloysius, who spent part of his childhood in Burma, recalls lively anecdotes of his life there and in Goa that prove to be a delightful learning experience. The opening pages of the book take us right into the Japanese attack on Burma in December 1941. The fear and commotion of the proceedings is told through the eyes of a young Aloysius, in very much the innocent candour of a young boy, but without negating the urgency of the situation. ‘As far as we youngsters were concerned this was a wonderful holiday. During the days, we investigated the neighbourhood, discovering Chinese market gardeners… ‘Most of these refugees, probably a million or more, trekked out through the jungles and hills of upper Burma into north e

Priyanka Borpujari has had an eventful and laudable journalistic career. Beginning with a Bachelors of Mass Media in Journalism, she has been a research scholar at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as a result of being awarded the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation) Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship (2012-2013) for journalism in human rights and justice. She co-founded the youth magazine Yuvaniya for the Bareli tribe in western Madhya Pradesh, in alliance with the Adharshila Learning Centre. The Asian Age and the Mumbai Mirror are two newspapers that Priyanka has worked for, besides being a guest columnist for The Boston Globe . Reporting human rights violations in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and Gujarat as an independent journalist since 2009, she has contributed to Al Jazeera , The Hindu , Tehelka , Down To Earth and many more prestigious news publications. Having donned many hats as a journalist, photographer, and researcher, Priyanka founded the Ka

Roanna Gonsalves’ first book The Permanent Resident comprises 16 short stories based in Australia, her adopted home. The stories weave their way through shattered dreams, disillusionment and the reality of surviving in an alien culture. The book was first published by UWA Publishing in 2016 and its reprint was published by Goa, 1556. Making her way to Australia as a student, Roanna has garnered accolades that are completely justified by her writing. Aside from earning her doctorate from the University of New South Wales, Roanna is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award. The Permanent Resident has been incorporated in the syllabi of a number of Australian universities and is being studied in particular in the areas of Australian Literature, Postcolonial Literatures, and Creative Writing. Merely ruling her a skilful writer would be understating her genius. Her words traverse the pages with fluidity that leaps up to greet and refresh the reader at every helpi

Goa is advertised as a land of fun, frolic and feni for the sake of tourism: sunsets on beaches and coconut trees are the superficial portrayal of the land. The Salt of the Earth bares Goa in its true form without the trappings of a Portuguese influenced Westernised culture. This book of short stories translated from Konkani brings us tales of the core of Goan culture and narratives of feminist ideology. The first person to be awarded a doctorate in Konkani from Goa University, author of The Salt of the Earth Jayanti Naik has a Sahitya Akademi Award to her credit. Besides short stories her oeuvre covers a range of genres including poetry, drama and children’s literature. Since her first book of short stories called Garjan ( The Roar ), she has written over 32 books, 16 of which are folklore based. Her passion for preserving Goan folklore also distinguishes her as folklore researcher at the Goa Konkani Akademi. There is not a story in the book that does not relate to suffering, and i