Contribution of publishing house hailed

DHARWAD: Jnanpith awardee playwright and actor-director Girish Karnad described Manohara Grantha Mala (MGM) here as a "university which has produced several eminent writers over the last seven decades".
Speaking at a function to release six books published by MGM on its 78th anniversary at Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha here on Sunday, Karnad said MGM's G B Joshi has been giving valuable literary works to readers besides introducing new writers."I owe my success in the literary field to Joshi and MGM. It is like a university for me," he said.
Actor-director T S Nagabharana released the following books on the occasion: Na Damodar Shetty's Kannada novel ‘Saradi', Lohit Naiker's shorty-story collection `Spooki Emba Haavu Mattu Fascist Appa', Mallikarjun Hiremath's collection of stories `Molevalu Nanjagi', Mitra Venkatraj's novel `Pachi Kattida Pagara', Prema Karant's autobiography `Solisabeda Gelisayya' and Krishnanand Kamat's `Kalaranga' and `Preyasige Patragalu'.
Referring to `Solisabeda...', Nagabharana said it has touching revelations on the life and works of Prema and B V Karant. He said Prema is responsible for the development of several talented young theatre activists. Terming G B Joshi as his guru who introduced him to literature, particularly with the north Karnataka dialect, Nagabharana expressed pleasure that MGM had maintained the tradition of publishing books of high literary standards.
Critic Giraddi Govindraj, who presided over the function, spoke on MGM's latest set of books. "There is a tendency among the biographers to be transparent in narrating their childhood life and hide several things related to their adulthood. Some writers use autobiography to accuse their adversaries and try to settle scores by writing against them," he added.
Writers Na Damodar Shetty, Lohit naiker and Mallikarjun Hiremath spoke. Editor of MGM Ramakant Joshi welcomed. H V Kakhandki proposed a vote of thanks. Noted critic G S Amur, S M Vrushabhendra Swamy, Veena Shanteshwar, Siddalinga Pattanashetty, V T Nayak, Arya Dushyant Nadagouda and others were present.