I attended the prathama amerikaa telugu saahitee sadassu (First Telugu Literary Symposium) held in Atlanta on May 23 and 24 (Memorial Day Weekend). The symposium was sponsored by the Houston based Vanguri Foundation of America. The symposium, the first of its kind in US, was attended by many Telugu literary enthusiasts across the country as well as some guests from overseas. All said, the attendance was less than 100. There are many netters attending the symposium. This was the first time I met many of these people, a very pleasant experience. (As an added bonus, many of us got to spend a lot of time with professor velchEru naaraayaNa raavu whose views on a lot of linguistic, historic, sociologic and anthropologic issues were very stimulating; I also managed to sit in during a video interview of avasaraala anasooyaadEvi, the legendary singer of Telugu folk songs). After very brief opening remarks in his inimical witty style by Dr. Vanguri Chittenraju, founder of Vanguri Foundation (for those of you who don't know it, vangoori is an accomplished humorist writing plays and satires, and a good actor), Dr. Pemmaraju Venugopala Rao chaired the symposium and conducted the proceedings with a tight (some said, very tight) reins. Several books published by vangoori foundation were inaugurated. These included amerikaa telugu kavita and the fifth volume of amerikaa telugu kathaanika, both edited (and typeset) by dr. pemaaraaju. His indefatigable energy deserves accolades. 'Metamorphosis', a compilation of Telugu writings by Veluri Venkateswara Rao, was inaugurated by Prof Velcheru, who also wrote the preface. As most of you know, Dr. Veluri is probably the finest Telugu writer in US, and there are several pieces in this anthology that I can offer as proof. If further proof is needed, look at his piece on dEvulapalli in the latest issue of taanaa_patrika, or the essay he read at this symposium, 'maa telugu maasTaaru', which received a resounding ovation. The other book to be inaugurated was a very special one. 'Tiruppaavai' of Andal with 32 excellent page sized full color pictures by the legendary 'baapu'. The book also includes introductions by muLLapooDi venkaTaramaNa and indraganTi Sreekaanta Sarma (who inaugurated this book), and contains a Telugu translation by Sri Lakshmana Yateendrulu and an English translation by Dr. Pemmaraaju Venugopala Rao. This book is available for $35 from Vanguri Foundation. Only 500 copies of this book were published, and this is sure to become a collector's item soon. Three audio cassettes by srimathi anasooyaadEvi were also inaugurated. Dr. Vecheru Narayana Rao gave the keynote address. Dr. velchEru is well known in AP for his seminal thesis, telugulO kavitaa viplavaala svaroopam, and all over the world for his contributions to the South Asian studies, and is the chairman of the Department of South Asian studies at University of Wisconsin, Madison. He gave a very thought provoking lecture about the need for preserving Telugu as a language, and the contribution that immigrants can make in developing Telugu further. Indraganti Sreekaanta Sarma, poet, critic, and current editor of Andhra Prabha weekly, was the chief guest. In his talk, he presented an overview of the current Telugu literature scene. His conclusions: Telugu short story is premier form of current literature. Poetry is locked into various isms with jayaprabha and Kondepudi nirmala writing fine poetry. There were four interesting Telugu novels in the last two years: khaakee bratukulu by spartacus, rEgaDi vittulu by chandralata, nEnoo-cheekaTee by kaaSeebhaTla vEnugOpaal, and chelapatee jindaabaad by raayasam venkaTraamayya (I have a quibble with the last selection). He also talked about 'hampee nunci harappaa daaka', the autobiography of late tirumala raamachandra. Several other speakers also mentioned this book published by the appaajOsyula and vishNubhoTla foundation. This books is available in US. Other interesting speeches included a short, but interesting and hard hitting speech by the film writer aakeLLa (Svaatimutyam, Srutilayalu etc). Aravinda Pillalamarri reviewed -in Telugu (for those that don't know, aravinda grew up in US), lata's gaalipaDagaloo, neeTibuDagaloo, and discussed in depth the implications of a female writer writing about prostitutes in Telugu in the early 60s. Dr. pooDipeddi SEshu Sarma presented their efforts in Atlanta to teach Telugu to children at 'mana baDi'. Dr. akkiraaju ramaapatiraavu (manjuSree) spoke about Telugu novel, and kOvela sampatkumaaraachaarya spoke about the traditional Telugu poetry. Smt. anasooyadEvi talked about humor in telugu folk songs. There were many other short lectures and readings of poetry and short stories by many of the attendees. I already mentioned vEloori's reading of 'maa telugu maasTaaru'. Palana's rendering of his poem, 'chellee Sreelacchee' also received a tremendous ovation. Vangoori chiTTenraaju's dantavEDaantam, a satirical short story, was also greeted warmly. The first day ended with a spirited symposium chaired by Dr. vEmoori venkaTESvararaavu on computers and Telugu language. Prasad Chodavarapu made a presentation about rangavalli and mEghasandESam softwares and the need to standardize the Telugu keyboard, and character usage. Viswanath Vadlamaani also presented on the same topic. Dr. KV Baparao made a presentation on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software for Telugu. Palana talked about the development of a Telugu database and indexing. A spirited discussion took place which continued long after the official day ended. Dr. Vemuri announced that he can fund a grant to further development of any of these products. The second day was remarkable for the session on the future of Telugu language. Dr. Gavarasana Satyannaaraayana from Boston presented the results of a survey he conducted about future of Telugu language in US. A resolution was introduced by Dr. gAvarasaana to work towards the establishment of a Chair for Telugu studies in one of the US universities. The resolution was adopted by the sadassu and a committee was formed under Dr. Velcheru's chairmanship to promote the idea further. I forgot to mention the book fair where several books by the attendees were on display and were available for purchase. My impression, however, is that the book sales were very sluggish. There were a few presentations that were not upto par. There were some things that could have been done differently and done better. The organizers, to their credit, were looking for feedback. I hope that when such meetings are held in future, lessons learned from this sadassu are put to good use. My thanks to Drs. Vanguri Chittenraaju, Pemmaraaju Venugopala Raavu, Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta, and all the volunteers. It was a fun filled two days for me and many of the attendees. I wish the rest of you were there too. Regards -- V. Chowdary Jampala