 As in the words of great literary scholar and theologian C.S. Lewis, literature adds to reality. It does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides. And in this respect, it irrigates the desserts of our lives. Warmest greetings to one and old, esteemed guests, that saw faculties and has, and all the students present here at Law and Hold this afternoon. It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome you all to today's book, Reading and Review Session. I talk with Debyeun Autres, an initiative of the Department of English in collaboration with the Department of Linguistics. To commence with the session, let me read out the order of the program. Chairperson, myself, Vivili Ayae, BA English, 5th semester, moderator, Tsukumla Assistant Professor, Linguistics, welcome note, Sanjumbeni Kei Jami, Assistant Professor, English, a special song by Suthilu, followed by the book review and the panel of discussion and a vote of thanks by Kezi Vinu. To commence with the session, I now invite Ms. Sanjumbeni, Assistant Professor, Department of English, for the introduction of our special guests. Good afternoon, everyone. It is with profound joy and pleasure that I stand here today to warmly welcome each one of you to this book, Reading and Review Session. I want to extend my earnest gratitude to our esteemed authors for gracing us with your presence despite your other engagements. We are truly honored to have you in our midst today, and we look forward to a time of learning and fruitful engagement. With that being said, allow me to introduce our esteemed authors. First, we have Mr. Twinto. Twinto Visio holds a master's degree in English literature and has also recently completed his Bachelor of Divinity from Eastern Theological College, Johar, presently he is engaged with an institution to promote his unwavering love for literature amongst the youth. His debut book, Mea Kalpa, was recently released on the 9th of September, 2023, and the book is a collection of diaries from various remorseful characters living in different generations of the same lineage. Sir, we are extremely grateful for your presence here today, and I would like to take this time to just call you on the stage to receive a token of our appreciation. I would also like to request Dr. Rosy, HOD English, to present the mementos to our guests. Next, we have Seden Munyo Losa. Seden Munyo is a Tetsuo alumni, MA English class of 2022. Poetry like Pineapple is her debut book, which was recently released on the 25th of August, 2023. The poetry collection speaks in volumes about her life experiences as a teenager transitioning to majority. I would like to request Seden Munyo to kindly come over to the stage to receive our token of love. Tetsuo College, warmly, welcomes you back. Last but certainly not least, we have Theralee Rebekah as a Zoom. She is one of our own, a familiar face, striving and thriving in excellence, and we couldn't be more prouder to have her as one of our esteemed guests today. Theralee is currently a BA linguistics third semester student of Tetsuo College. Her debut book afterwards was launched on the 25th of July, 2023. The book is a collection of the remnants of the fleeting moments of ordinary life. It is the epilogue of the things she went through to remind herself that people grow despite everything. Thank you, Dr. Rosy. Thank you so much, Sutilu, for livening our spirits with such a powerhouse performance. I would now like to invite the reviewers to present their insightful perspectives on the books as we look forward to revealing in the beauty and power of literature. You may take your time one after the other. A very good afternoon to everyone. But greetings to the esteemed guests today, respect the teachers, my seniors, and to all my fellow classmates present here today. My name is Kitia El Lokumar from the Department of English First semester and I am pleased to be given this chances platform to share my thoughts on the book afterwards. Before I delve into my thoughts on the book, I wanted to extend my heartfelt congratulations on the publication of your first book, Theralee. I think it is truly an admirable milestone and it is also very inspiring to witness the talent that exists within our college community and your work is a shining example of that. The title itself, afterwards the title itself hints at the reflective nature of the poems that act as remnants of the author's experiences offering a glimpse into the emotional journey of love and life. The themes of growth and the ability to move on are central, reminding readers of the resilience of the human spirit. In afterwards, the author presents the captivating collection of poems that serves as an introspective epilogue of the fleeting affairs of an ordinary life. Through these verses, the reader is invited into a world of love, regrets, growth, and vulnerability. The structure and the structure of the book is of an epilogue and then there are short anecdotes and also a collection of poems, which has been divided into segments. This structure provides a unique and thoughtful viewpoint on the journey of life and the combination of prose and poetry offers a deep and meaningful insight into the author's thoughts and emotions at different stages of her life. The anecdotes in the book encompasses a range of themes, including self-acceptance, family relationships, and the art of loving, judgment, and human vulnerability. It is also very interesting that the author, despite writing formally in the anecdotes, chose not to alter the usage of contemporary GNZ terms. I think this approach also added authenticity to the writing, making it more relatable to a younger audience who are familiar with these terms. This blending of formal writing and contemporary knowledge created a unique and very engaging reading experience for me and the entire poetry segment explores the themes of love, relationships, acceptance, identity, and the complexities of human emotions. It emphasizes the value of self-expression, self-empowerment, and embracing imperfections. And throughout the poems, there's a focus on the beauty of vulnerability and authenticity, encouraging self-discovery, personal growth, and the recognition that life offers opportunities for renewal and new beginnings, even after endings. There's a closing quote in the book that deeply touched me, and it says, the moon may never write to you, but you will fall in love again. I think this quote is a reflective way to conclude the book afterwards. You know, it expresses a sense of hope as it says. You will fall in love again, suggesting that despite the uncertainties and challenges of life, love will always find a way back into our hearts. Afterwards, I think it's a reminder that despite life's challenges, we continue to evolve and carry forward. And even after the story ends, there is always a potential for new beginnings. I would recommend afterwards to anyone seeking poetry that delves into the depths of human emotions and the enduring strength found within. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, lecturers, and everyone present here. My name is Tohum Choi. I'm from the Department of English Master's first semester. First of all, before I begin with my book review, if anyone has read the book, I'm sure you'd be surprised that I, as a male human being, is standing before you to give the book review. And I do understand, but however, I am very privileged and honored to be given this opportunity. To start with, the title of the book is or the name of the book is Poetry Like Pineapple. And before I started reading the book, I wondered why it could be so. And when I went through the contents, it contains 23 poems, beautifully written, very beautifully written, of course. And I thought maybe it's because pineapples have segments and maybe that's why it was named Poetry Like Pineapple. But after reading through the poems, after the three divisions, after getting through the 23 poems, I understood why it's called Poetry Like Pineapple. And I hope that by the end of this book review, I will also get a little bit inside on why it's named like that according to me. So the poem, it talks about, of course, our author, she said that there's not a socially or moral book. However, if you look into it, it talks a lot about the challenges that a female might face in society. And I do not come here to say that I understood everything in the poem as a male, I do not. But however, there were some instances where it related very deeply with me. For instance, in the first part of the poem, there's a poem called Tribute. And it resonated very well with me because even me, in my family, I was raised by a single mother. And the power of a mother, I'm sure everyone knows how important it is. And going through the poem, just going through the first poem was very phenomenal for me because it was resonating very well. And my only issue with this is that there were not enough poems for me to go through because by the end of the poem, I was thinking that it was a little short for me and I wanted to read more and more of this beautiful writing. Throughout the poem, as we go on, we learn about the social injustices primarily with gender. It talks about the duality in gender to the invisible patriarchy that we are in right now. Of course, it does not talk about it very openly, but then as you read in between the lines, I believe that poetry and its rhetorics are supposed to be subjective. And in my subjective opinion, I believe that it talks about such things. It also talks about young love, betrayal, longingness, and in overall, the frailty of human beings and also how we can hurt people without us realizing. In most instances, when we read through, when I was going through the poems, in most of the poems, it was, the poem was talking about how somebody was hurt or somebody was betrayed. But then as I went through the poems, it also made me realize that instead of thinking about myself and getting hurt, that I'm getting hurt by somebody or somebody has done something bad to me, this poem very insightfully made me aware that maybe I'm also hurting someone. My actions are also affecting someone somewhere that I do not realize. And that in a very ironic twist, it made me realize in self-realization, it made me realize that I'm not the only person in the world. And I believe that we all think that there are people around, but sometimes we feel like we are the center of the universe. But this book was very phenomenal and eye-opening experience for me. And for most of the time, I do enjoy reading books and I would not consider myself a connoisseur of poems, but then I think after this, I'm getting a little bit into poetry. And it's a very big honor and I'm actually very nervous about meeting an actual author and reading and giving the book review. And this is my first ever book review ever, so I do hope you can apologize. I'm sorry, I apologize. You can forgive me if I did not follow the etiquettes that are necessary for this. The one thing subjectively that I took away from this book is that, like I said earlier, the frailty of human being would not know how fragile we are. And yet in that frailty, we find our strength. This book is written in such a way that by the end, when you start, from the start to the end, I do not know if there's a certain order to which the poem has been particularly written. But in my subjective opinion, as I finished the book, I realized that in life we go through stages of dependency in the first part of the book, in dependency dependent on our parents, on our elders or dependent on someone. Then we grow into our rebellious teenager age where I'm sure a lot of us have faced heartbreaks. And it's funny because now at this age, when we look at our juniors or somebody young getting a heartbreak, we think it's very silly. But even for us, when we're in that heartbreak, it felt like the whole world was caving in. This shows how we are very narrow-minded and that this is something that a principle of mine from high school said. He said that no matter how mind you had something be seen to you, to somebody else, it could mean the whole entire universe to them. So this is also another reminder of that. As you go through the point, by the second candle, you learn that we think our problems are our whole world. But then if we keep pressing true, we'll find strength. And this book also has a touch of melancholy, which we are just going through in the classroom, something called catharsis, using pity and fear to invoke pleasure and entertainment, the purification of our emotions through pity and fear. And I believe this book does it very well in the most nonchalant way, is what I would say. So that is my personal opinion and my review on the book. I hope it's as I would like to say for poetry, I think a review, okay, it helps. But then for poetry and such subjective topics, I believe it is better for all of us to go through the book by ourselves because I can experience something in a certain way. You can experience something in your cinema and both are also experiences and experiences are what makes us human beings. So I thank you everyone for indulging me in such. Thank you very much. A very good afternoon to you all. First of all, I would like to express my heartiest congratulations to the three debuting authors present here with us today. My name is Dorilla Janger, BA third semester, Department of Linguistics. And the book I will be reviewing today is called Mea Culpa by Twinto Visuho. The title of the book Mea Culpa is a Latin face, which means through my fault. It is an expression of apology that comes from a Catholic prayer of confession. The book Mea Culpa written by Twinto Visuho is a collection of narrations or diaries from the point of view of different characters in different generations, but who belong to the same lineage or family. These characters share their experiences of remorseful events and tragedies in their lives, their moments of Mea Culpa. The book begins with the narration of the two characters, Faustina Lai and her husband, Lolo Lai, and ends with the final narration of the character, Lino, who eventually goes on to become the wife of Faustina and Lolo's grandson, Io, Bond. So the story progresses through three different generations. There are narrations of stories by a total of seven characters in the book written from their perspectives. So the book is a compilation of stories told from different characters point of view. And in each story, we see how the characters navigate through the highs and lows in their lives, leading to a dramatic downfall, a moment of Mea Culpa, of regret, sorrow, or guilt. But this tragic downfall is then followed by a new beginning, almost like the rise of a phoenix from its ashes, so to speak. Though the book is a combination of different stories of different characters, it forms one single story as a whole told by many narrators. It is ultimately about the realization and acceptance of one's mistakes, hence the title, Mea Culpa, which is an expression of apology. We find traces of supernatural elements in the book, such as out-of-body experiences, visions, spirits, and so on. And such kind of writing piques the interest of their readers and also explores human emotions, fears, and desires in a heightened context, further driving the plot forward and keeping their readers engaged. Another important theme we find in the book is family. I for one greatly appreciate the fact that the writer has demonstrated the love of a family, not only focusing on the typical mom-dad-child relationship, but also exploring the love of an imprisoned father, an orphaned child, a grandmother, a single mother, and even twin siblings. The use of this dynamics is significant because it allows readers of all sorts to relate it to their own lives and families, including myself, because I've also been raised by a single mother, so I could relate to the story on so many levels. This relatability further enhances the overall impact of the story, making it more engaging and also emotionally resonant. We also find elements of Christian faith and belief in God throughout the narrations of the stories. Without giving away too much about the book, there is an instance where one of the characters finds God through a very disturbing and difficult time in his life, and he goes on to find the strength to not only forgive the person responsible for his pain and suffering, but also accepts his miserable situation because he had found his peace and contentment in God. This theme is evident throughout the book, with each character holding onto such a kind of faith and hope, and not only forgiving those who had wronged them, but also forgiving themselves for their own mistakes eventually. This makes up the defining moment of mea culpa in each of their lives, and from here on there is a sense of a new beginning, a fresh start, or renewal of their minds and lives through all the experiences and lessons learned. The writer's style of writing is both simple and profound, captivating readers from all backgrounds of life. His employment of the first person narration style through each character's point of view creates an intimate connection between the readers and the characters. The book portrays the life's challenges and everyday struggles of ordinary middle-class individuals and families, which allows us to dive deeper into the thought process and emotional states of these characters and relate with them on all conventional levels. All in all, mea culpa is a book that tells a beautiful story and has the potential to tuck at the strings of people's hearts by teaching us about life, love, forgiveness, and gratitude in only around 76 pages. I would say it is a must-read and the kind of book that I could recommend to anyone and everyone. Thank you. I extend my gratitude to all the reviewers for meticulously crafting your reviews and offering us a piece of your perspective on the books. Your reviews have certainly given us a glimpse of what the book has in store for us and we look forward to discovering its essence. May I now invite on stage Ms Tsukumla, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, to lead us into the most awaited segment of today's event, the panel discussion. So, okay, right away, first of all, congratulations. And then, since Terali is our student, and then to make it more comfortable for the others as well, I will start with Terali. So, in your book, collection of living moments, you have so satisfactorily expressed the bitterness which we all feel deep inside. So, can you tell us a little bit on how you express or how you have brought out those bitterness for all of us? For the question, I think it's all about going through it. You have to go through something in order to write it. So, it's not about mentioning certain things or someone in order to write it. So, I think it's all about my feelings, my personal feelings and how I perceive things and how I went through stuff. I hope that answers your question. Okay, now I would like to ask Dwin Dong. You are also a television and a writer. So, was there any difficulty or can you mention the difficulty of creating a theological based story without something like a sermon or without making it preachy? Thank you. I am asked a question, but before I give an address to that, let me take this time to thank you, everyone, for giving me this wonderful opportunity. And I may not know each and every one of you personally, but I would like to thank the authority as well for opening up the platform for me. Thank you very much. It means a lot to me. To the question asked, I would say that I would define myself as a person who is subscribed to literature and also a person who practices theology. When we hear the word theology, most of us we think that when a person goes for theology, the tribal concept is that they want to be a pastor or someone who is engaged in the church or ministries. But for me, I take this platform in a way not exactly a preaching platform or sharing the gospel, but I have an interest in blending the concept of theology and literature. So, a place where I can share something about the concept of being a good human, I won't use the word gospel or trying to bring, convert someone through my writings. But through my writings, I would love to see if there is any influence to a person to become a better person and contribute to a better world. Thank you. Okay, now I would like to go to set him on. So, you have divided your boy tree in three parts. Yeah, so, was there a pattern in those three parts? Was there a connection between those three parts or are they three independently different parts that speaks their own story? Thank you for the question. So, the three parts, they were not really parted in a way that say something else about the different parts. It was picked randomly, mostly. I tried to put the first part in a way that there will be something that I am relating personality to. So, the second part and the third part, I think they are the ones where I best my other characters more. So, there is not being a time that I chose them separately to make it into parts. It was just picked randomly, mostly. So, clearly in one of your chapters, you have mentioned green as a love color. So, can you tell us how it occurred to you with the choice of the green color and what describes it as your love color? It has to do mainly with how I grew up. And it's not just me. I think we grew up thinking that we have our parents have the most perfect love story and they always love us. They will always care for us. We think very positively of love. But as I grew up, I realized that love can be of course positive, but it can also condense some heavy elements. Like, love is not always spring life. It's something, sometimes it's disturbing and it's like an addiction, but it's beyond human to avoid being loved or to love something. So, as I grew up, my understanding of love became a little heavy and a little set at the same time. So, and green was green failed. The color green failed like that. The color green is something you like, but it can never be anyone's favorite. Maybe one or two, but you can't just say green is such a bright color. You cannot say green is a dull color either. And I think that that is why love feels very green to me. That's a very well defined from your point of view. So, I'll get back to doing them. Did you experience any global moments in your life that made you create this work? How did this work come about? This work, I should confess that it's a work written about four years ago, but I had to engage myself in an institution of theology where I had to have my preparation with that area. And after my, after the completion of my Bachelor's of Divinity, I got the privilege to launch this book. And so, here I am. And regarding about the inspiration of writing the book, actually this book I have mentioned an indication to my late twin brother, who I had a twin brother who is no more in this world, but I hope this message would reach out to him in heaven. And this is a dedication to him. And regarding about the moment of me accompanying my life, sometimes I feel like there is also a fragment of my fault in the happening of this tragic life. So, I did not participate myself in any of the characters of the blood, but I tried to design it in a fictional way where I can put out my feelings about how it would be if I am to put into real life. So, that I should say is an inspiration to me. When I read the book Miyakaba, it tried to be the phrase, forgive to be forgiven. So, I mean your inspiration, your twin brother, your late twin brother as your inspiration is a very beautiful, it gave birth to a very beautiful book for all the readers. So, okay. Now, getting back to Seremono. In one of your, in the introduction of your book, you have mentioned my writings not be judged in the view of the feminine background I was raised from. It intrigued me because this line has so much to say in so many ways, like in the form of morality sometimes, or status or in so many ways. So, please tell us your thoughts on becoming a writer or a poet. At the risk of judging readers, especially from your friends and family. So, I wrote that because I am actually raised from, obviously like everyone else, I'm raised from a Christian background, but I am a pastor's daughter. So, it's very contrasting because when you say that you're a pastor's daughter or a pastor's son, people tend to judge you and they want you, it's like you're living in a glasshouse. So, they judge you and they look at every actions that you're doing. So, when I started writing, I like to write very openly. I would say it's, I write vulnerably and I wanted to be so open with my feelings and my characters. I wanted to express human emotions and when I did that, I felt like people would judge me, not just me, but my parents and the background I was raised from. So, I was very scared about that at first and that is why this collection has been in the closet for such a long time, but I finally gained courage after talking to not just my parents, but my near and dear ones. So, I talked to them about the collection. I told them how it is and how my writings actually are. So, I told them about it and they were really open about it. They accepted how I wrote it and then, very surprisingly, they were so encouraging and then they told me to go for it. So, that's why I wrote it. And if you go through my book, there will be some illustrations also. So, they were some questions at first from some family members also. So, if you go through the book, you'll see it, but some of them, they questioned me about the illustrations also. So, those are actually pictures from the internet, but I told them that I wanted to not just convey the message through words, but I also wanted to see them, to let them see the poem through the illustrations also so that they would be able to have a better connection with the poem. So, that's it. Okay. So, in a restricted world, like where we are living, we live in a society where we're restricted to certain morals, but I feel in a world of fiction we do not have any rules. So, I would encourage everyone to the writers in the participants also to put forward your feelings in the fictional world. There's no rules to it. So, thank you to Sete for opening the way for us. So, back to Tirali again. In many of your poems, you have mentioned it, but particularly the marriage and Mary, okay, it strikes me in one way. You have mentioned clearly about two women falling in love. So, as an author, okay, not as a student, not as a student, as an author, would you highlight on the LGBTQ community in relevance to our society and how should the present generation react to it while growing up in a confused world? I don't have any opinions regarding the community and the two poems mentioned specifically came out from my idea of falling in love with a girl. I've never fallen in love with a girl, but I feel like the idea of falling in love with a girl is something so feminine and something I want to embrace so much, but so and regarding LGBTQ and our generation, I really don't have any opinions. It's okay, no problem, but I would like to involve Twindall, he's a teller gene. So, how do we, how should we empathize the community? And from your point of view, from a teller gene point of view, how should we empathize with the LGBTQ community? For me, I am not a professional one, but if I comment on this, it would be a controversy. For instance, open discussion, so I think all the opinions are accepted, there's no problem. If I say that it is something which we can encourage, there are some group of people who target me again, and if I say that it should be discouraged, because there are different group of people and with different mindsets, but I think I should say as a Christian, as a person adhering to our own faith, we should listen to our heart and we should, if we think that it is guilty of us to practice, I think it should not be encouraged, and if we think it is not guilty, and if we think that does not disturb our faith, I think we should not discourage as well, because everyone we know is a creation of God, and everyone deserves a second chance, so we should not deal with some group of people in a harsh way, thinking that we are right. I think that is what I can comment as of now. It's all about kindness, right? It's all about kindness towards each other, right? Because I feel, personally I feel that it's not their fault also. Sometimes the peer pressure can influence, right? But then I feel it's not their fault as well, but then like being kind can be one thing that we can do to them. Okay, coming back to doing to it again, what are your challenges as a theologian in the rule of literature? Your challenges as a theologian in the rule of literature? I should say it is not an easy road, because when I pursue for theology the expectation of the people, it is raised towards me serving in the church or somewhere engaging myself in ministry, but I used to imagine myself. There are a lot of people, there are a lot of young readers who loves reading, who are engaged in the world of literature, but they are far away from the church, but they have failed to maintain their faith and relationship with God. So I think I told myself that I should engage myself into the world of literature and in a way see if I can influence the young readers, not to convert them, but see if I can get a chance to speak to their heart about their faith as well, about the things that they should do in life and not just simply go along with the flow of today's youth generation. Multiple challenges are faced, but there is one I would like to highlight, which is heading your own writing. Personally, I don't like what I write, it's not that I hate it, but I feel like if afterwards was written by someone else, I would have liked it more. And as for the advice, I think it would be to be emotionally ready because it takes a lot of time, like Miss Sedi has mentioned earlier, and to not give up. No matter how many negative thoughts you have, don't give up. I am to say on this question, I would say if we could, you can as well. As much of the things, much of the elements have been shared by my two authors, but I would say if we can, you can as well. As you experience, you engage yourself into many challenges, but that's a part of life. Go for it, I would say. Okay, we'll stop here with the Q&A. Since we also have a book signing in the reception, we will not waste more time, but I would like to sum up the books according to my perspective. Particularly, it was nostalgic, and I also studied in a Catholic institute. I grew up in an old girl's school, and the chaos, the emotional roller coaster, the confusion, everything was so relevant to me because not to me, but as through my friends and then through my other siblings, who were younger than me. So I felt so much connection with your story. And then what I'd like to say is your book stopped in a teenage year, and then what I'd like to add is what is meant to stay stays, and what is meant to go. Okay, what is meant to go on, it goes on. So that sums up everything. And then for Dwyndo, like I said, it was a prayer story. And in the character of Eyo, I saw redemption, where redemption basically is creating something new out of the broken things. So in Eyo's character, I saw a redemption. And then, like I said, it was a message of forgive to be forgiven. And then forgive to be forgiven on both the ends, so that the living or the dead on both the ends can be at peace. And then we have Cedilunno's Prajer Lake Pineapple. For me, there was a connection in those three parts where the first part of the story, like how Doku also have commanded on it. The first part of the story talks about how a young girl was under the care of an elder's, okay, parents under the care of elders. And then in the second part of the story, where she grows up and sees the reality of the world, and then there was also the chaos, okay, the emotional rollercoaster. And then in the third phase, the satisfaction, the catharsis, like I said, she found self-love, okay. And in the book, in the last part of the book, she found self-love. So that was most satisfying to me because the author did not let the validation or the opinion of others validate the emotion of that particular character. So it was such a beautiful read. I totally enjoyed reading all of your books. Congratulations once again. Congratulations to the reviewers as well. And yeah, would like to bring an end to the panel discussion here.