BHUBANESWAR: Susahityam- a book stall at the ongoing 33rd Bhubaneswar Book fair has showcased the complete collection of works of celebrated author and legendary story teller Manoj Das. The special stall that also displayed several classics of Odia literature along with a huge collection of children's books is a major crowd puller. The stall is a collaborative initiative by readers and fans of the author.
"This is 7th book fair where we opened a stall of Susahityam. But the response we got so far is quite encouraging. It started as an experiment by some of the avid readers of the great writer Manoj Das who met through social networking sites," said Purnendu Bhusan Behera, a government employee. After his office hours he is attending the stall at the book fair every day.

The main objective of Susahityam is to take Das's writings to new readers and also to make a collection of books and writings, which have gone out of prints. New edition of some of his popular books like Antaranga Bharata, Kabita Utkal and Bulldozer are available in the stall, Behera added.

"A reader came to the stall searching for a book that published an article by Manoj Das was published in a vernacular newspaper years back in 1998. We provided him the book Sandhana O Sanketa and he was so happy. This is the purpose of Susahityam," said Samir Ranjan Das, a fan of Manoj Das, who has also created a fan club with over 7000 members in Facebook.

As many as 400 titles including 100 books of Manoj Das, over 75 classics of Odia literature by eminent writers like Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gopinath Mohanty, Shantabu Acharya, Sridhar Das, and some best sellers and other popular titles. A separate section to the spiritual literature of Sri Aurobindo has also been put up.

"This little pavilion does not claim to exhibit all the works of Manoj Das, no sustained efforts have been made in that direction. This is only a humble attempt to provoke the lovers of good literature to explore the creative world of the writer," Das said.

Manoj Das has written as many as 47 books including 11 compilation of stories, 12 children's literature, eight novels, two compilation of poems.

source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com