Hailed as one of the largest poetry events of the world, the seventh edition of the Kolkata’s International Poetry Festival – Chair Poetry Evenings began with its inaugural program on 30th November evenings at Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.
Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Arun Dev, Brian Turner, Baabusha Kohli, Carmien Michels, Denisse Español, Eugenijus Ališanka, Jessica Jacobs, Kishor Kadam, Martin Solotruk, Manmohan, Mikeas Sánchez, Priyankar Paliwal, Sasja Janssen, Subhro Bandopadhyay, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri, and Yuriy Serebriansky presented their poems in several languages that were also presented in English translation by the organizers. Sayani Palit and Atif Ali Khan presented a ghazal and Thunri musical rendition.
On the second day events of the festival were held at Alliance Française du Bengale, and Samilton Hotel Could Tavern.
Two new books of poetry in translation published by Chair Poetry Books, titled ‘Anger’ by Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri and ‘Buddha’ by Kazakhstan based poet Yuriy Serebriansky were launched from Chair Poetry Books on 1st December at Alliance Française du Bengale.
This year’s festival hosted by Chair Literary Trust has been supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, Flanders, Belgium, Embassy of Lithuania, Embassy of the Dominican Republic, Embassy of Mexico, Alliance française, Poetry Book Society, UK, Culture Ireland, Sovereign Invest, Bratislava, Himalayan Writing Retreat, Samilton Hotel, and Vivada Cruises Pvt. Ltd. among others.
The festival in seven years has presented poetry from poets from more than 25 countries and languages.
Poet and festival director Sonnet Mondal said, ‘Humanity needs poetry and the appreciation of art, especially in a world where most people are living through war, conflicts, the demonisation of democratic rights, and limitations on fundamental liberties. Kolkata, India’s cultural centre, has been hosting numerous literary and artistic events on a regular basis. Our goal is to bring poetry’s importance and flavour to these events. Our goal is to showcase voices that are unwavering in the face of any threat to humanity. The cornerstone of national and international discourse has always been poetry.I hope that this year’s festival will be able to showcase poems and concepts that people can relate to.’
Eminent Hindi poet and festival director Tushar Dhawal Singh said, ‘I think poetry and artistic expression are a “push back” against all these forces that are working against humanity in these turbulent times of terrorism and war, radicalised and fanatical mindsets, ideology weaponization, and greed. The idea of becoming more and more human is at the heart of poetry, which tends to instil more fertile ideas of living and expressing in its readers. The Chair Poetry Evenings celebrate the diversity and colour of creation, life, and people.’
