Surrey BC – Manasvini, a literary women’s association in Vancouver Canada celebrated their one year anniversary on Saturday April 23rd at the Newton Cultural Center, Surrey BC. Four eminent women speakers were invited to share about their accomplishments, their struggles in a new country and inspiring journey. A book written by Neelam Batra-Verma, 1971:A War Story based on a true story of the missing 54 Missing Prisoners of War from the 1971 India Pakistan War, was launched on this occasion for the audiences and members of Manasvini.
The event offered a platform for the women speakers from diverse fields such as Medicine, Business, Arts and Community Work to share their inspirational journeys. Attendees enjoyed the creative readings from the book launch and it was also an opportunity to network. Author Neelam Batra-Verma signed copies of her book and gave away free copies to members of Manasvini. Asmita noted, “This was a unique moment and the first book launch from our platform. We wish our member and writer Neelam Verma every success and we hope to organize more literary events in future”.
Shikha Porwal and Asmita Lawrence are the founders of Manasvini who have created this platform for new writers to develop their literary skills in Hindi and to network with other women to share their thoughts, expressions and emotions. “Our tag line ‘Kitchen se Kalam tak’ in Hindi translates as ‘From the culinary to the literary’. We are a support system for each other and our expressions have been an effective way to stay connected and cope with the Covid19 pandemic” said Shikha.
Manasvini has been organizing events promoting creative writing in Hindi and occasionally in English for the past year since it was formed on March 8 2021. Manasvini also organizes cultural events engaging participants from the South Asian diaspora as well as the rest of the multicultural community of BC
More information on the website: www.manasvini.ca
The book 1971: A War Story is an emotional tale of a family’s anguish whose only breadwinner goes missing. A pilot goes missing somewhere over enemy territory during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Full of surprising twists and turns, this is a story of love and hate, of the human cost of war and the lives hanging in limbo when a loved one goes missing. A suspense thriller, which will keep you engrossed till the end.
Dr Neelam Batra-Verma is a Canada based writer who has been writing professionally for about 30 years and published thousands of articles in national and international mainstream newspapers, magazines as well as producing news bulletins for a 24-hour News channel in India. After working for print and electronic media for decades in India and Canada, she successfully published and edited the first Hindi magazine in Canada, this is her first attempt at fiction based on true events
The author is available for speaking engagements, interviews, and appearances. She is also happy to speak to reading and writing groups via telephone or Skype. She can be contacted at drneelamverma@gmail.com. The novel is now available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/1971-Story-Dr-Neelam-Batra-Verma/dp/0228806801/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RASW0EO77J3N&keywords=dr+neelam+batra-verma&qid=1651120954&sprefix=dr+neelam+batra-verma%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1