IMPHAL Sept 27: Distinguished journalist Raghu Karnad’s much acclaimed first book titled ‘Farthest Field’ will see a Manipur launch by the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh at MFDC auditorium tomorrow at 3 PM.
The event is hosted by the Department of Tourism Government of Manipur in association with IMASI: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation, as part of the World Tourism Day celebration.
Raghu Karnad the author has written for Granta, the International New York Times, the Financial Times, National Geography, n+1 and Caravan.
According to the brief provided by the hosts of the function, Karnad is a Contributing editor at theWire.in and was the editor of Time Out Delhi. His articles and essays have won prizes including the Lorenzo Natali Award, the Every Human Has Rights Award, the PII National Award for Reporting on the Victims of Armed Conflict, and second prize in the inaugural Financial times-Bodley Head International Essay Competition.
Farthest Field is an Indian story of Second World War is described as a masterpiece by Simon Winchester in New Statesman. It was listed as the best in the non-fiction list of Indian Top Ten Bestsellers.
In his quest, he had visited Manipur twice before and travelled extensively to places like Shangshak, Jesammi, Shirui, Ukhrul, Moirang, Churachanpur, Lamdan, Laimaton, Kanglatombi etc. and met several war veterans and their relatives.
During his research Karnad traced his grandfather’s and other close relatives’ graves to the Imphal War Cemetery in 2012, which according to him had bridge the distance and established the emotional bonding with Manipur.
He has recreated the importance of The Battle of Imphal and The Battle of Kohima in this moving memoir with minute details of all the episodes associated with these battles.
The book will be available at the event at a special discount from HarperCollins at the launch venue tomorrow.
Several dignitaries are expected to take part in the function. Jan Ross, a German from Die Zeit Newspaper will also be covering the event.