Editorial, November 2019

Hi there.

Welcome to the Setu-11-2019!

The current issue comes packed with some exciting new features that are customized to enhance the reading-pleasure of our dear readers searching for an authentic read in a mass market.

Of late, we have been trying to innovate in varied ways by a combo of the mix and re-mix of the regular content and the dominant forms in a suitable format that meets the general expectations of the community and at the same time, escalate the existing level to the next higher one.

This time, it is a judicious mix of various literary genres by the gifted authors and artists, and, new addition: the popular video poetry done by two of the returning poets of eminence Sharon Berg and Robert Maddox-Harle, heart-felt renditions that give a different dimension to the very experience and reception of poetry via the audio-visual medium. You have got sound, picture and a poet as a performer in a single mode, a combination otherwise missing in the bare text on a flat surface. These days of high-tech, experiments like audio, podcast, video versions of the texts are getting popular, kind of reaching out and trying for wider engagement with the audience. Hence, this occasional column.

Another interesting feature is a photo- essay on the graffiti in Lismore, Australia; it is an attempt at capturing the lively street art through camera, a delicate task that only the noted photographer-editor-artist Robert Maddox-Harle could accomplish with finesse and subtle lyricism.

Memoir by the gifted Lopa Banerjee, non-fiction short story by the guest-editor and  well-known fictionist Kelli J Gavin, literary round-up of two prominent events by Gopal Lahiri, guest editor and prominent poet; essays, fiction, poetry, debut, author of the month, reviews--- of a contemporary classic film of the celebrated British film-maker Ken Loach by Louis Kastakin, a cerebral author-critic-administrator of a poetry group and a recent poetry book of a reputed woman Indian poet Saima Afreen by the perceptive critic Deeptesh Sen, among other equally- reputed writers and critics---well, so much content condensed and neatly packed, in one place for you to consume leisurely, on the move or in the solitude of your study, on lonely evenings in crowded metros.

Next month, announcements of the Setu awards for the year 2019 and of forthcoming special issues for the year 2020 would be made. Please be on the lookout for the same.

Meanwhile, enjoy the delectable fare!

And do write in, please. The comments are important for us.

Also, send your valuable contributions. The editors would love to read and publish them in a welcoming venue---home to the best of the Hindi and English writers, the world over.

Thanks again for all the contributors of this issue and editorial team for their continual support for the journal that has crossed a million-plus views.  Month after month. At your service.

And gratitude to you, dear reader, for your kind patronage. Without you, we are nothing. You complete the circuit and your kind support is, well, matchless.

Best of wishes,

Sunil Sharma,

Editor,
India

Setu, November 2019