Results of POEWAR at Book Readers Lounge - Writers & Poets Group

POEWAR - a poetry competition was held on our facebook group - BRL - Writers & Poets. The duration for the competition was 3 days beginning June 16, 2011 and ending on 18 June. An event was created specifically for this competition on facebook and it was organized by Siddharth & Hitesh(yours truly). You can read the rules of the competition - here.

We received 31 entries in all for the competition. There were a very good number of deserving entries, thus making it tough to choose a winner, but Poewar Judge - Shreya Chatterjee, a published poetess made it possible and made it look easy too. 

All members of Book Readers Lounge and participants of this competition heartily thank her for assuming the dual role of Judge & Chief Guest inspite of being so busy with work and giving her precious time to this competition.

Here is a brief BIO of Shreya Chatterjee

Shreya Chatterjee is a writer by profession and poet at will. In spite of handling two professions that leave her little time for leisure, she manages to read books, write reviews and manage two blogs.

Her blogs are:

1. http://wizardmeetsvagabond.blogspot.com/ 

2. http://wanderer-onestep.blogspot.com/ 

She has been writing poems and articles for various magazines like “Raison d'être“, “Bonhik”, “Kindle Magazine” and few others.

She frequently writes in Poetry forums like Jingle Poetry, One Shot Poetry. She was featured recently on ofindianorigin.co.uk

Her debut novel of poems – “Musings of a Wanderer” was recently published by Power Publishers.
It is collection of poems that speaks about the simple pleasures of life.
Know more about her book at http://goo.gl/NBCD6

The Winning Entries of the competition are as follows:

1. GRAYSCALE by Aihik Sur is the winner of this competition
2. THE FIRST DROP by Aram Bhushal is the first runner-up
3. THE RESURRECTION by Avishekh Das is the second runner-up

Congrats to the winners. 

If you are looking forward to participate in such competitions then join our facebook group - BRL - Writers & Poets.

The wining poems are as below:

1. Grayscale

I see the world through my window,

gray and dirty,

the rain drop clashed with a clamour on the pane,

colorless and impure.

Poured into the puddle at the end of the street,

where drank the beggar the mud water with greed.

While the dog tried licking his face,

he threw her down with feeble grit.

She whimpered in pain but in vain,

she wept so did the girl next door,

all for being abused by the one they loved.

Those futile tears dried as the world did outside,

and they went back to their men shamelessly,

cuddles and lots of affection,

the sudden past forgotten certainly.

And the next day it again rained.

2.The First Drop

Walking to nowhere I feel the pain,

I have no sorrows or more pains to gain,

Still I look on and walk the way,

Men are here to move, not to stay !!

I ignore the clouds mounting up dark,

Showing all differences in a manner of stark,

Black clouds need not always mean bad,

Sunshine is always not a fad !!

Strolling the way ignorant of the drops,

Like a farmer unaware of his crops,

I move on defying my rules,

I have not noticed the forming of the pools !!

And here the drop hits my face,

It wakes me up from all the rat race,

The thunder shakes the slumber off,

This was natures polite little cough !!

I wake up to feel the God's latest gift,

How I wish to end the rifts,

It's a new begining to wash afresh,

Let the soul be drained with the flesh !!

I let the monsoon drench me to my core,

This is exactly what I adore,

Letting the moments pass drip by drip,

My soul is off to a peaceful trip ...

3. The Resurrection

She was weeping,her wails drown
the thunder,sweeping accros
the city streets,at a loss..
Three,two,one,the countdown
to an end,the sight of her son,
lying in a pool of blood,
conscious faces gaze and sigh...

Thirteen nights before,his first birthday
Gifts of chilled memories showered today
Frozen,she picks his severed arms
and flungs it towards the thousand germs,
gathered around the gory sight,
Sirens blare,red everywere,
but the resurrection still awaits...

Than he picks himself up,
watches his mother cry,he
feels her hand,but numb is her head,
Comes to me,I wipe his tears
We fly to a distant land
of white doves and a golden hand,
all the time praying,
give peace a chance....

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - MARK STEPHEN LEVY

Here is an interview with Mark Stephen Levy, the author of novel - Overland. 

It was a pleasure interviewing him. Here goes:

 1. Tell us something about your upcoming romantic adventure novel - Overland

Overland is loosely based on my true adventures on my first travel to India and Nepal in 1985. It's about a guy who is rejected by his wandering girlfriend, who goes off and travels overland from Europe to Asia and Danny, the main character goes off in search of her.

 

2. Why did you choose to write about this genre? What lead you to it?

I love adventure travel and so much happens during a time like this when you do travel and turns out it is what I write about the best...What lead me to it was the drama that occured when I met my now wife in India and my own pursuit of her.

3. Tell us something about yourself.

I'm just a regular guy who can't always have yet needs some adventure in life from time to time. I was born in the US in Los Angeles, California and moved to Denver, Colorado 15 years. My day job has been in technology sales. I have my wife originally from France and a 19 year old daughter.

Mark Stephen Levy

4. What are your thoughts on life – The one thing that it takes to live it.

You cant always settle for the routine, you need some spice in your life no matter what you do to get it..for me it is adventure travel.

5. What do you think of India as a country based on your experience? 

    What did you think of it before visiting and writing this book?

I love India, I love the charm, the spirituality, the drive for ambition and how a country of over a billion people manages to make it work. I love the scenery and diversity of all the world's languages and cultures that harmoniously blend together.

6. American vs. Indian culture- Whats your say?

I like how India and America have been great allies and partners, the two largest democracies working together.

7. Has Mark as a person changed after all the globe trotting? If yes, then how?

YES! India changed me as a person the moment I set my foot on this soil in 1985. It made me more spiritual and increased my awareness of how others live and I was just fascinated by that, and always used to think of India daily for the past 26 years until I was able to come here again.

8. How did the love for travelling evolve or it was there since childhood? 

    Any book on travelling you love reading?

My family always took me and my two sisters to different places inside and outside of the US and I loved every minute of it. Then when I was 22, I gave myself a present on graduating college and went to Europe, on my own for 8 weeks and had the time of my life (smiles) and it helped me to prepare for more serious traveling...India.

A book on traveling I loved reading is my own- Overland. However, there are numerous books including Gullivers Travels.

Mark (1985)

9. Top 5 All-time favourite books.

    

    1. Lord of the Flies

    2. Lord of the Rings

    3. Eat, Pray, Love

    4. To Kill a Mockingbird

    5. Dr. Zhivago

10. So how did it feel when you finally finished writing the book?

Great, excited...and then the challenging part came, marketing it!

11. Your advice to both writers and readers.

      

To writers, make sure you rewrite and go through your book over and over, and when you think you're done, find an editor to get a fresh pair of eyes to edit it to where literally it is letter perfect.

To readers, don't be shy to say the truth on what you read, a good writer should be open to learn from critism, even if it hurts, you can learn a lot from readers.

12. What is your dream project? What other tfrom the things are you working on right now?

Well, I would love to see Overland as a film. I was originally wanting to write the screenplay for it. But, movie producers love to adapt books into films and thought I had a greater chance to make it into a film from the book.

What I'm working on now is enjoying my  current time in India and hoping to gain enough new experiences to assist in creating new material for the sequel to Overland. Overland ends with a very nice fariy tale ending but does leave the door open for the sequel.

13. How has been your experience so far in the literary world? Any highs or lows being a part of this space, that you would like to share here?

Good question...be persistent in your passion and believe in your book's story. Everybody seems to be publising these days whether it is a tradtional publisher or self publishing. 

If you don't have patience, self publish, as it will be out there and with all the social media such as Facebook, a free way to get the word out and to self promote to create word of mouth from readers.


Get in touch with Mark via facebook by visiting his profile
and if you're a twitterholic then follow him here - http://twitter.com/TheRealMarkLevy 

MONSOON BOOK GIVEAWAY - QUESTION 2

Our monsoon book giveaway has expired.
Answer a simple question and you stand a chance to win a book.

QUESTION:

Name the BOOK (& its AUTHOR) in whose SYNOPSIS the following line appears.

"Abhi tries to reconcile the matter and try to make her understand that hes still innocent from his part and all he was going through was a little confusion about his status in his love life."

We are giving you two clues to make sure  you get the answer correct.
Stay Tuned

CLUE NO. 1 (we reveal another line from the synopsis to make it easier for you to answer)

This romantic story  is about love between Abhi, a last year physiotherapy student and Priya, MBA student. Both loves each other but somehow in the story Ellen, a beautiful American lady, comes between them, with whom Abhi got interested and got confused.

CLUE NO. 2 - The author is a resident of Jammu & Kashmir

Send in your answers to bookreaderslounge@gmail.com till Monday 27 June 6pm

Correct Answer is MY LOVE NEVER FAKED BY NIKHIL MAHAJAN

WINNER OF THIS QUESTION IS SWAROOP BHARTIYA

THE SEPTEMBER REVELATION BY KANIZA GARARI

 

 

Title : The September Revelation

Author : Kaniza Garari

Publisher: Frog Books (Dec 2010)

About The Book:

Marriages are an important element of the society. And when a young girl like Zainab Gandhi avoided marriage it raised innumerable questions. Her concerned family tried to prove the seriousness of matrimony by issuing an ultimatum. This now, linked her sister’s happiness to her will to settle.

Caught in a trap, she agreed with their proposition to meet prospective grooms but hit straight into her past. Kutubuddin Kagazwala turned out to be her lover’s best friend. Frightened, she took shield in another prospect, Ibrahim Merchant to later learn that he was Kutub’s first cousin.

Cornered, she works desperately towards hiding her disgraceful past and save the honour of her family. Does she succeed in her attempts?

To find out, read The September Revelation which unfolds a heart wrenching saga of a young girl who grapples with her past to look forward to a clean future! 

Facebook :

Add Kaniza as a friend 

Join her facebook group 

On The Web:

Read an excerpt from the book

Images from the book's launch event

Publisher's website

About The Author:

Kaniza Yusuf Garari, worked as a journalist for 12 years. In this span of time, she was associated with The Asian Age, Bombay Times and Hyderabad Times of The Times of India group.

During her tenure as a field reporter, she registered the human emotions which were normally not of interest to the newspapers. This memory of the intricate details of Mumbai and its bar codes for localities and people represent a mindset which has been subtly represented in the book.

She came across situations where she found honest responses were often rebuked. Society as a whole could live easily with deceit rather than confront the truth and accept it.

In this story, the protagonist, Zainab’s relations with her boyfriend are a cause of concern. But she has hidden this truth from her family. As the pressure to marry mounts on her, she is once again face-to-face with her past.

The so-called openness of the society to deal with such issues is brought out in the book. Once again, the need to not reveal is prevalent. And when it is revealed? What happens? Do read and find out and you can e-mail your responses to kanizagarari@gmail.com.