Poet Umashankar Joshi remembered

The Vishvakosh Bhavan organised a seminar to celebrate the birth centenary year of the late Gujarati poet Umashankar Joshi on Saturday.

The theme of the seminar was 'Umashankar Joshi ni Shreshth Vartao', a collection of 14 of his best short stories.

Sahitya Akademi award winner Raghuvir Chaudhari was the chairperson, while Dhirendra Mehta and Himanshi Shelat were the speakers at the event.

Umashankar Joshi was an eminent poet and a staunch Gandhian, who also wrote short stories, plays, novels, essays, criticisms, biographies, travelogues, education related books and translations.

He was an awardee of 'Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak'(1939), 'Narmad Suvarna Chndrak'(1947), 'Gyanpeeth'(1968)', 'Dilhi Sahitya Akademi'(1973) and Soviet Nehru Award.

Dhirendra Mehta read 'Lohi Tarsyo', 'Chhellu Chhanu', 'Shravni Melo' and 'Mari Champa No Var and their criticisms. He praised the poet's style and literary genius.

Himanshi Shelat, the modern short story writer and the other speaker said, "Umashankar Joshi's tryst with short stories was only experimental as he had no attraction towards it.

He was an expert in expressing his views with very small gestures and also knew how to engage the reader." She also nostalgically remembered Joshi's Gyanpeeth Award ceremony at Surat.

Chairperson of the seminar, Raghuvir Chaudhari concluded the seminar by speaking on the relevance of Joshi's stories today.