The Last Word

Finally, more than two weeks later, the last of the Writers’ Festival posts! As I said in the beginning, the entire event was fantastic. I hope you’ve gotten a little taste of what those of us fortunate enough to attend were able to hear. I’ve provided quite a few links to information about the presenters and some of their organizations for your exploration.

The last session was actually titled “The Last Word.” As had the morning session, it focused on conservation, sanctuary, protecting nature, especially the Himalayan Mountains near where we live here.

Prerna Binda, who spoke on tigers to the children on the first day, talked about the power of words, and what “wildlife” actually means. Her book The King And I: Travels in Tigerland celebrates the tiger, worries for their future, mourns their passing and hopes that they continue to rule the wild, forever. She mentioned so many writers who have written books and articles about conservation and wildlife and ended with these words: “Write and Spread the Message.”

Jim Curran, who spoke earlier about conquering fear, showed slides of many of his paintings of mountain scenes. Rather than trying to duplicate photographic-style pictures, his mountains are stylized and give the sense of what it might be like to be there.

The final speaker of the Festival was Shailaja Bajpai, an Indian Express journalist whose novel, Three Parts Desire, is due out later this year. It takes place in Delhi, New York, a small town in Uttar Pradesh, and an unnamed hill station -- and sounds like one I will enjoy reading!