Kolkata’s International Poetry Festival – Chair Poetry Evenings 2021 to soon delight poetry lovers as it steps into its fourth year
Ambar Bhattacharya, Takmaa, Kolkata, 19th Nov 2021 : As the world is slowly finding back some routes of normalcy since the pandemic, creative voices and writings have been continuing, putting forth fresh voices and notes regaling poetry lovers worldwide. In line with its yearly tradition Chair Literary Trust has once again put together an ensemble cast of world poets in the fourth edition of Chair Poetry Evenings 2021-Kolkata’s International Poetry Festival. The event will be streamed live on the Youtube and Facebook handles of Chair Poetry Evenings for viewers worldwide from 21st November, 2021 to 24th November, 2021 between 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Prominent Literary figures from countries like USA, UK, Lithuania, Brazil, Sudan, France and India will join in a poetic congregation across four days to share their reflections, thoughts and verses both in English and some in their native tongues which is a philosophy the festival carries as it truly upholds the thought that language should never be a barrier for creative exchange.
“ This year promises to be an interesting one with participants being writers, performing artists, prose writer, journalists, social worker, literary advisors, copywriters, newspaper columnist, playwright, multimedia artist, bureaucrat, fiction writer, photographer, university professors all uniting under the beautiful umbrella of poetry showing us that the world of words and verses never stops albeit the upheavals that encounters us. It would be very heartwarming and soothing to hear poets across the four days making it a human experience and celebration during this challenging phase”, states Sonnet Mondal, poet and Festival Director , Chair Poetry Evenings.
This year’s line-up include, bilingual poet in French and Occitan, Aurélia Lassaque, Egyptian Sudanese writer poet Tarek Eltayeb who has been residing in Vienna, Austria, London resident writer, poet and artist SJ Fowler ,award winning British poet Ruth Padel, Poet and translator Rimas Uzgiris from Lithuania, Poet –writer-photographer Octavio Quintanilla from St Antonio, Texas, Marcio-Andre de Sousa Haz , poet, multi media artist from Rio deJaneiro,Poona born Oxfordshire resident freelance journalist, writer and poet Farrukh Dhondy, Lois P Jones, Poet-radio host-editor and Forrest Gander ,American poet, translator, essayist, and novelist who won the Pulitzer prize for poetry in 2019.
From India those joining are Anamika, contemporary poet, Aditi Basuroy, Bengali poet, Baby Shaw,Bengali poet from Jhargram, Chaitali Chattopadhyay, poet, Gayatri Majumdar, poet from Pondicherry, Patna born bureaucrat poet Muzaffar Abdali , Rajasthan borm Hindi poet Prabhat, Bilingual poet in English and Manipuri, Robin Singh Ngangom, Punjabi poet Swami Antar Nirav,Bhojpur born Hindi poet Badrinarayan.
‘The Chair Poetry Evenings’ is a celebration of varied poetic voices from all across the world. Transcending national, geographical, cultural and linguistic boundaries, the celebration, ultimately, is of poetry beyond language. In today’s conflict-ridden, pandemic stricken rugged times, poetry as the frontier of human conscience strives to keep the humane concerns alive. Poetry, in a sense, is an antithesis to terror and destruction, states, Tushar Dhawal Singh, poet and Festival Director, Chair Poetry Evenings.
