Chair poetry evenings to take place in November

Update: 2018-09-24 15:14 GMT

Come November, winter in Calcutta will get warm and cozy as the culture capital gets set to witness the first ever International poetry extravaganza. The festival presented by The Chair Literary Trust will host poets from across the world and some from our home too. The stellar lineup of poets who will be part of these evenings are, Vladimir Matinovski (Macedonia), John W Sexton (Ireland), Miriam Van hee (Belgium), Alfred Schaffer (Netherlands), Les Wicks (Australia), Barbara Pogacnik (Slovenia), Yekta (France), C P Surendran, K Satchidanandan, Nitoo Das, Rajesh Joshi, Arun Kamal, Manglesh Dabral, Subodh Sarkar and Binayak Bandopadhyay.

"The festival aims at building consciousness through poetry. Art and Poetry are the expressions of human consciousness. We endeavor to bring together the civil society in an interaction with thoughts, ideas, and questions related to human existence," festival director Tushar Dhawal Singh said. "As the planet becomes progressively anxious with sociopolitical, radical, cultural, ethnonational skirmishes, we consider the role of Poetry as a restorative and a potent mean of diffusing values and experiences - all the more pertinent", festival co-director Sonnet Mondal added.

The inaugural programme of the fest will take place on November 23 at Rotary Sadan Hall, followed by Calcutta Heritage Bungalow readings, Walk through the City and readings at Sasha's studio on November 24. The finale, November 25, will be a floating event with poetry on the cruise over the river Ganges.

The trust has also declared a 'Poet in residence program' to be hosted in Kolkata during the winter months. The residency will host two to three poets from across the globe where they would be offered a stay for a month in the city with a scholarship to cover up their costs in the city. The poets will also be offered an opportunity to present public readings in the city. During their stay, the poets will interact for a cultural exchange with culturally interested people, artists, organizations, and writers in West Bengal.

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