Bengal lights

AIM - Art Illuminates Mankind - is an organization in Kolkata to promote a sustainable development of the artisan communities belonging to the backward and deprived sections of society.

Coincidentally Bengal Lights has come out from Bangladesh, to illuminate not only Bangladesh and the South Asia region but the whole world. It is an anthology of fiction and non-fiction published with the writings not confined to the people of Bangladesh.

"Sixty-five years ago, they found a new identity as East Pakistan, and forty-one years ago as an independent country. They began to re-invent themselves and part of the re-invention was to want to write in English. Today there is a new found directness in their speech; language, styles, forms and preoccupations are responding to the pressures of the times. " wrote Khademul Islam, the editor of Bengal Lights, in the introductory note to the autumn 2012 issue. If we substitute the names of people and places and use a few indigenous words, or if we translate them into our own languages, we could read them as our own stories, based in our country, our culture, where we live.

To quote Khademul Islam again, "It includes writers from outside Bangladesh since we have to free Bangladeshi writing in English from its domestic confines. Set in a wider regional context, and connect to the web of writing that spreads from country to region, from region to the world."

Bangladesh writers are fortunate to have the University of Liberal Arts as their publisher, and the commitment of the editorial board, to bring out this journal. It is a brainchild of Khademul Islam, former literary editor of the Daily Star, Kazi Anis Ahmed of the University of Liberal Arts and Prof. Kaiser Haq, English department, Dhaka university.

This is the need of the times, which Bangladeshi writers have realized, and which we must all realize.

We too have to spread from country to the region. We have enjoyed our country's identity, but we have to establish it in the region, join the other countries in the region to establish the regional identity, and then our universal identity.

When the journal was launched first the editors wrote, "creative writing in English is on the verge of a real efflorescence in Bangladesh today. More of us are starting to write in English, forming book clubs and writers' groups." The Bengal Lights come not just from one lamp, but several, each giving off a light of a different colour, different warmth and together they illuminate our thoughts and our life.

It is a collection of Fiction, where we find Matt Leibel, presenting his micro-fiction (or flash fiction, as it was called earlier), and there is also one piece of 'prose-poem' by Christopher Merrill, which too could have been grouped under micro-fiction, because there is no word limit for micro-fiction, and some of them too read like poems. The prose-poem also reminds us of some modern day poems, which could be considered as prose, if written without line breaks, while we have short fiction which really read like poems, even though they are written without a break, like the way our ancient scribes wrote on the ola leaves.

One more unique feature of this journal is that it includes artistic poetry too, in the form of drawings by a Bangladesh sculptor and artist, Hamiduzzaman Khan, which reminds us again that there is poetry in art and art in poetry.

Then we could even class these sketches as micro-fiction or art-poems.

The poets who have contributed to this collection are also from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and also from U.S.A. Some of the South Asian writers, have studied in the west, still live in the west, while others have returned to their country of birth. They all have their memories, and some of them see their homeland through minds which have been exposed to the alien cultures and traditions of the west.

In countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, we find many of the elder academics and writers encouraging and guiding the young writers, who even promote the writings of indigenous authors by translating them into English.

Bengal Lights is also planning to introduce the Bengali writings to the world by translating them into English, while in Sri Lanka we have only one or two academics who are trying to help the younger generation.

We in Sri Lanka can learn a lot from this journal, and our writers too can submit their writings to Bengal Lights, till someday we could have our own Lanka Lights.

Even with a Sri Lanka academic on the editorial board of Bengal Lights, it is sad to see there is not a single contribution from Sri Lanka, as if there are no creative works in English from our country, that would merit publication. Because it says on their website, www.bengallights.com, "we particularly welcome contributions and submissions from young and emerging writers."

Our young writers could send their submissions to www.bengallights.com/submissions.php, because they "seek writing that reflects the spirit and diverse voices of South Asia, and to forge literary connections between Bangladesh and the wider world."

While we look forward to reading Bengal Lights Spring 2013, let there be more Lights, from the other countries and other cultures, for us to share and to enjoy. Someday we should have a publication of Earth Lights to illuminate our lives and our global culture.

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