India will be personified in two major international poetry festivals namely—The Ars Poetica, Slovakia and The Cork International Poetry Festival, Ireland in the coming months.
One of the most regarded global
terminus for poets, the 14th annual edition of the Ars Poetica Festival will be hosting an Indian cultural evening in November 2016 to introduce Indian culture through poetry and dance to the Slovakians. The invited poets for this event include Sonnet Mondal, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Subodh Sarkar and Usha Akella. Apart from poetry, Kathak would be introduced in an innovative way by Delhi based dancer Sangeeta Majumder. The Indian evening to be held in mid November this year will introduce a dance and poetry rendition titled Echoing Shadows that will be presented simultaneously by Sonnet Mondal on poetry and Sangeeta Majumder on Kathak. This will be the inimitable experience for the participants themselves not just because they would be performing be-fore the international audience but this would be the first of its kind combination in a simultaneous poetry and dance rendition which we have termed as Echoing Shadows.
The festival with the Ministry of Culture, Slovakia and Radio & Television of Slovakia as its prime partners has attracted many eminent poets from all over the world in the past years. A half an hour poetry reading will be presented by the
invited Indian poets followed by a reading in Slovak translation at Ars Poetica. The festival will also launch an anthology which would include the poems from the invitees.
On a second instance, Sonnet Mondal will be reading and
performing his poetry at the Cork International Poetry Festival, Ireland to be held in February 2017. Widely appraised as one of the most important poetry festivals of Ireland, Sonnet’s presence at the Cork International Poetry Festival will open a revolving door of cultural co-operation between India and Ireland. Sonnet along with other invited poets would read his poetry during the second day of this event. An Irish special edition
published by The Enchanting Verses Literary Review and guest edited by Patrick Cotter will be released on the opening day of the festival. Sonnet is the founder editor in chief of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review and this country special issue will present Irish poets in both Irish
language alongside the English
translations. The Cork International Poetry Festival is assembled by the Munster Literature Centre based in Ireland and is supported by the Arts Council, Ireland.
The invitee in both of theseoccasions, Sonnet Mondal has read at Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia in 2014, Uskudar International Poetry Festival, Istanbul in 2015 and International Poetry Festival of Granada, Nicaragua in 2016. Sonnet’s poems, has recently been included in Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature journal, Mcneese State University, University of Saskatchewan and University of North Carolina. This is a great achievement for young poets like Sonnet who have been working for the cause of poetry from the early days of his writing career through The Enchanting Verses Literary Review which is in its ninth year of publication and is dedicated completely towards poetry and poets.
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Talking to Organiser, when asked about his unique feat and his views about the poetry in other parts of the world, Sonnet Mondol said, “I have been invited to represent India in two big Lit fests. It feels amazing.” “If we consider Indian poetry in its regional languages, then I must admit it has more flavours than anywhere in the world. The variety of emotional
outbursts, philosophical exegesis and ecstasy is undeniable. But, poetry in general has much more outlets and avenues to practice and share in USA, UK or European countries like Ireland, Macedonia, Slovenia, Italy and France etc. Even the very urge to read and appreciate, the will to criti-cally exercise an anthology and the enthusiasm to sit in gatherings just to enjoy and discuss poetry is much more in the western countries. Poetry blooms like flowers demanding to be watered or used as house decorations —in international festivals like the Struga Poetry Evenings of Macedonia which I had visited in 2014. On any given day of open mic poetry and poetry slams in the western nations, hundreds gather just to hear, smile and clap at the
performances. Poetry is no less enjoyable than songs to them”, said Sonnet.
Both the literary events in Slovakia and Ireland have hosted poets from several countries in its previous years but it’s the first time they have shifted their concentration upon India.
—Organiser Bureau n
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