By Irfan Iskandar Putera & Wan Nurnisa AtikahÂ
GOMBAK, 19 November 2015: BENL Writers’ Festival (BWF), the biggest event of the year for the Secretariat of English Language, Linguistics and Literature (ELITS), has finally arrived.
This four-day event, which started on 16 November and will end today, opened its door with book-selling event, open mic session and Night of Arts. The bookselling event saw a lot of books from various local publishers including Jemari Seni, Fixi, Silverfish and Dooku being sold with great prices.
The main focus was on the selling of Clairvoyance, a literary magazine published by ELITS in conjunction with this event. Published once a year, this magazine is the compilation of poems, short stories and interviews submitted by talented IIUM students with a special submission this year by Anwar Hadi. This magazine provides an opportunity for the students to share their thoughts and writings with others and allows their voices to be heard.
Held annually, this event gathers writers, young and old, experienced and new, from IIUM and beyond, to share their skills and show their talents with the hope of inspiring others on the wonder of writings.
According to BWF’s Programme Manager, Nur Izzati Ashikin Rosman, the objective of this event is to expose the students not only from BENL but also from other Kuliyyahs on the skills of writing and on how to become a good writer.
She also mentioned that this event provides a platform for students to showcase their talents and for others who are yet to discover their hidden talents. œBoth academic and leisure writing are the main focus of this event, she said. œPeople are asking, œWhat do BENL have? So this is what we have for the students, she added.
The highlight for yesterdays session is the Night of Arts. Taken place in HS Square, this programme managed to attract not only students from IIUM but also from other universities to perform their works, be it poems, songs or anything that they would like to present.
Among these universities were Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Management and Science University (MSU). A first-time performer, Rahimie Ramli, said that he has been making poems for a long time but has never had a chance to perform them. Last night was a great chance for him to start performing.
A group of performers from MSU who started performing two years ago said that they heard about this event from their friends here and saw this as a good opportunity for them. œThe crowd here is very appreciative, Awang Saufi, one of its members, said.
Officiated by ELITS advisor, Mazlan Mohd Yusof, this event is expected to attract more crowd as it continues today. Programmes organised include talks by lecturers and guest speakers such as Ameen Misran, Gina Yap Lai Yoong, and BENL’s own Dr. Mahmudul and Mazlan. ***
