INVC,
Panchkula ,
Panchkula Lit Fest took off to glittering start at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula at sharp 10 am with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia, Mayor of Panchkula and Guest of Honor R J Khanderao Regional Director and Joint Secretary CBSE. Organized by Reekrit Serai and Radhika Panickar the young Founder Directors of Rumour Group India, the first ever Panchkula Lit Fest drew large crowds of intellectuals from the region who thronged to Satluj Public School to hear the young authors who had come from far and wide to participate in this prestigious literary event.
A large number of authors, poets from the region and even from other parts of the country like Pune, Mumbai and Delhi came together for book talks, book launches and sharing their thoughts and ideas. Padma Bhushan Sardar Anjum, poet, philosopher and literary genius held everyone spell bound with his poetic renditions, rendering one urdu couplet after another to huge applause from the audience. Viney Kumar Senior Journalist Economic Times moderated the first session ‘ Living the Story’ with Panelists Rohit Gore, Sachin Garg, Reekrit Serai, Pyal Dhar and Kal K Korff. Rohit Gore is the author of 4 bestsellers titled The Guardian Angels, Circle of Three, A Darker Dawn and Focus Sam. Sachin Garg is the author of two runaway bestsellers titled ‘I’m not Twenty Four…. I’ve been Nineteen for Five Years ‘and ‘Its’ First Love…
Reekrit Serai from Panchkula is amongst the youngest authors of the region with his first book ‘As I Turn Twenty’ a huge success with youth across the country, followed by many books and a collection of short stories titled ‘ Impulse’. Payal Dhar, an author, freelance writer and editor has many titles to her credit like ‘A Stitch in Time’, Satin ‘and ‘There is a ghost in my PC’ which makes for a very gripping read online. Moderated by Viney Kumar of ET,
these authors spoke about how stories have shaped their lives and how they have groomed their own art of storytelling into a unique identity. Bittu Sandhu social activist, author, poet and a charismatic event organizer inaugurated the session on ‘Stories for the Young’. Moderated by Preeti Singh a renowned author, freelance writer and poet, the panelists for this session had Faraaz Kazi, 
Sudeep Nagarkar, Rahul Saini, Ravitaj Sandhu, Sharon Gupta and Lalit Sharma. Recipient of the YCOF National Excellence Award and Winner of the National Debut Youth Function, Faraaz Kazi is an Indian author primarily into mainstream romance with top selling titles like ‘ Truly Madly in Love’ and ‘The Nicholas Sparks of India’. Sudeep Nagarkar is a well known author of three bestselling novels – Few Things left Unsaid, That’s the Way We Met and It Started With A Friend Request. Rahul Saini is also the author of three hugely popular books – Those Small Lil’ Things, Just Like in the Movies and The Orange Hangover. Ravitaj Sandhu is the CEO of a popular youth magazine Urban Mélange which focuses on all other spheres of lifestyle beyond fashion and cinema. Lalit Sharma is the creator of Mantrin a leading advertisement agency in the region who is passionately involved in every stratum of the agency’s operations. This glittering array of young authors and intellectuals spoke on how stories are especially woven for young adult audience and why this genre is turning into such a successful phenomenon. Vivek Atray an outstanding author, able administrator and organizer of the recently held, hugely successful “Litterati-Chandigarh Lit Fest 2013’ inaugurated the Session on Writing from the Heart. Moderated by Kunal Satija CEO of Edurev this session had panelists like Hardik Dhamija, Nikhil Mukhija, Nikhil Uprety, Shubham Arora and Abhinav Pandey who is the famous lyricist of a Hindi Rock Band named “Rumesh Inc’. He is the lyricist of the Movie ‘Station’ slated for release in January 2014 besides being an author and event organizer.
Sudeep Nagarkar, Rahul Saini, Ravitaj Sandhu, Sharon Gupta and Lalit Sharma. Recipient of the YCOF National Excellence Award and Winner of the National Debut Youth Function, Faraaz Kazi is an Indian author primarily into mainstream romance with top selling titles like ‘ Truly Madly in Love’ and ‘The Nicholas Sparks of India’. Sudeep Nagarkar is a well known author of three bestselling novels – Few Things left Unsaid, That’s the Way We Met and It Started With A Friend Request. Rahul Saini is also the author of three hugely popular books – Those Small Lil’ Things, Just Like in the Movies and The Orange Hangover. Ravitaj Sandhu is the CEO of a popular youth magazine Urban Mélange which focuses on all other spheres of lifestyle beyond fashion and cinema. Lalit Sharma is the creator of Mantrin a leading advertisement agency in the region who is passionately involved in every stratum of the agency’s operations. This glittering array of young authors and intellectuals spoke on how stories are especially woven for young adult audience and why this genre is turning into such a successful phenomenon. Vivek Atray an outstanding author, able administrator and organizer of the recently held, hugely successful “Litterati-Chandigarh Lit Fest 2013’ inaugurated the Session on Writing from the Heart. Moderated by Kunal Satija CEO of Edurev this session had panelists like Hardik Dhamija, Nikhil Mukhija, Nikhil Uprety, Shubham Arora and Abhinav Pandey who is the famous lyricist of a Hindi Rock Band named “Rumesh Inc’. He is the lyricist of the Movie ‘Station’ slated for release in January 2014 besides being an author and event organizer.
