World renowned Litterateur Padma Awardee Ruskin Bond conducted Master-class at LPU

Jalandhar, October 12, 2021: World renowned litterateur, Padma Shree & Padma Bhushan Awardee, Ruskin Bond conducted ‘Master-class’ at Lovely Professional University (LPU), which was attended by nearly 1000 students, scholars, academicians, and persons of literary and creative thoughts at the university. LPU’s Department of English at School of Humanities had organised this online ‘class’ on the topic “Creative Writing with Ruskin Bond''. Nearly 87 years old, Bond has penned 500+ short stories, novels, and 50+ books for children in more than six-decades of his illustrious authorship.

An eminent contemporary Indian writer of British descent, Ruskin Bond prolifically authored inspiring books and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award (1992) for his novel in English ‘Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra’. His first novel, ‘The Room on the Roof’, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. His simple characters, living amidst the lush forests of the Himalayan foothills, are remarkable for their quiet heroism, courage, grace, and age-old values of honesty and fidelity. Told in Bond's distinctive style, these stories are a magnificent evocation of a great India. In fact, he is amongst one of the best Indian authors loved by readers of all ages.

Sharing his insightful observations and practical wisdom about how to become a creative writer, Bond laid stress on being a good reader first, and to develop an excellent vocabulary then for an effective and successful writing career ahead. Some of the attendees asked, “Being writers, sometimes it is quite difficult to continue writing after certain failures, so how to address those failures and get motivated again to writing”. For this, Bond suggested to one and all, “Keep on making sincerest efforts and leave everything on destiny. Don’t bother about success or failure; what is more important is the passion and the spirit to never give up. Perseverance is the key to success.”  

During literary discourses, he also came forward to design curriculum of English literature courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Presently, LPU syllabi are duly approved by him, and are successfully running in BA Hons., MA English, and Value-added courses of the University. LPU’s Executive Dean Prof. Dr Sanjay Modi anticipated that Mr Bond will keep on inspiring the contemporary budding writers through his inspiring suggestions and valuable literary contributions. HOS Prof. Pavitar Parkash Singh, HOD Prof. Ajoy Batta along with the English faculty-members attended the master-class.