Festival celebrates natural heritage in arts, literature

DEHRADUN: A two-day festival with the theme of natural heritage in literature, arts and culture was held on Tuesday at the Unesco category 2 centre at the Wildlife Institute of India.
A number of authors, artists, poets and conservationists were present on the occasion. Bird expert Bikram Grewal, Asad Rejmani, naturalist Ranjeet Lal and renowned biologist George Schaller were among those who addressed the gathering.
V B Mathur, director WII said, “It is for the first time that we have not focused solely on wildlife but also taken aspects like literature, arts and culture into consideration.”
Writer Stephen Alter and biologist AJT Johnsingh also interacted with the audience on nature and wildlife. A poetry session held in evening saw recitations by eminent poets like Ashok Bajpai and Leela Dhar Jaguri.
Two sessions of the festival will be held on February 11 and 12 at Great Himalaya Park in Himachal Pradesh.