‘Patiala Reads’ members hold session with author Sakoon Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 8

“Patiala Reads”, an all-women book club promoting reading habits among women and helping them overcome boredom during pandemic days, has been holding virtual book meetings with authors to brush up the reading habits of its members. The club held an in-person meeting with an author from Chandigarh yesterday.

The Chandigarh-based author, Sakoon Singh, Associate Fellow at IIAS, Shimla, recently released her debut book, “In the land of the lovers: A Punjab Qissa”.

An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Panjab University, Chandigarh, Sakoon Singh teaches English literature and culture studies in Chandigarh. A recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Texas, Austin, she has published her academic writings extensively.

The book that perfectly encapsulates the essence of Punjab revolves around the life of an idealistic, young woman based in Chandigarh. In the book, Sakoon dwells on the burning issues of the region, such as drug addiction, and also evokes the anguish caused by the Partition. This novel has been shortlisted for the PFC Valley Of Words Award 2021 in the English Fiction category .

The inaugural meet was held at Cafe Brooks Central. Members of the club, including Vitesha, Dr Birinder and Cherry Garg, said the welcome note.

The evening saw participation by other avid readers, including Dr Bharti, Dr Jasleen, Simrat Samra, Dr Navjinder, Dr Reetinder, Sangeeta Sharma and Khushnuma Grewal, who interacted with the author. The meeting ended with members promising to put in effort in the process of learning and unlearning together to make an reading experience worthwhile.