UDHAGAMANDALAM: The two-day Ooty Literature Festival, which enthralled the readers as well as the authors, concluded here on Saturday. The final day started with tree planting by noted literary figure Shanta Gokhale, who was honoured with lifetime achievement award on the inaugural day of the event.The literature festival, held at the heritage building of the Nilgiri Library in Ooty, on Saturday discussed ‘how fare our women in the society?’, besides writing for children and difficulties in publishing the same, among other topics.Pointing out that women were attacked more in private/domestic space than in the public, Sameera Khan, journalist and writer, said gender space was the need of the hour. “Access to public spaces by women cannot be taken away in the name of anything.”The session on writing for children was engaged by writers Paro Anand and Janaki Sabesh. This was well received as the writers performed their stories on the stage. Janaki, an actress and a story teller, had launched her first book ‘Jungle Story Telling Festival’, recently. “Children’s books are meant not only for children and the idea is inclusive,” she said.The event concluded with a talk and screening of photographic works of ATW Penn.Geetha Srinivasan, managing trustee of the Ooty Literary Festival organizing committee, said exchange of open thoughts between authors and audience would bring in new story threads. “The literary festival was utilized to the fullest in this context.”Ramakrishnan Nambiar, secretary, the Nilgiri Library, said, “Libraries and literature are inseparable. And hosting the literature festival was a privilege for the library.”

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