International poetry festival: Poets from over the world recite poems in mother tongue

Poets from Ireland, Macedonia, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, Slovenia, France and India recited poems in their mother tongue at an international poetry festival here Friday. The'International Poetry Festival - Chair Poetry Evenings' director Tushar Dhawal Singh said, 

"The festival aims at building consciousness through poetry. Art and poetry are the expressions of human consciousness." After the inauguration of the festival at an auditorium in the city on Friday, there will reading sessions and talks by the visiting poets at a heritage bungalow on Saturday to be followed by a poetry session on river Ganga on board a cruise on November 25. 

Les Wicks of Australia, Aruban Alfred Schaffer of Netherlands, Yekta (France), Vladimir Martinovski (Macedonia), Miriam Van hee (Belgium), Pogacnik (Slovenia), Arun Kamal, K Satchidanandan and Subodh Sarkar of India are participating in the poetry festival. 

The Chair Library trust, the organisers of the festival also declared a 'Poet in Residence Programme' to be hosted in Kolkata from December to January where two-three selected poems would be offered a stay for a month in the city with a scholarship to fund their stay. 

Festival co-director Sonnet Mondal said, "As this planet is rocked by socio-political, radical, cultural skirmishes, we consider the role of poetry as a restorative and potent mean of diffusing values and experiences." 

Actor Victor Banerjee said "The city is honoured with such a turnout of poets from across the globe. And on the other hand, there is nothing better than them to be honoured by the city of Kolkata." 

"Kolkata bleeds for art and poetry as the state of Bengal lives and breathes poetry and culture," Banerjee said.

(With inputs from agencies.)