Chair Poetry Evening International poetry festival ‘Chair Poetry Evenings’ goes online this year
Kolkata/IBNS: Chair Poetry Evenings, Kolkata’s international poetry festival, has decided to go online this year owing to the global pandemic crisis.
The festival will be held from November 1 to 5.
According to the organizers, poets from the UK, USA, Macedonia, Italia, Estonia, Netherlands, Israel and India will participate online, reading their poetry and also engaging in talks.
Headliners for this year’s festival include Booker prize winning writer Ben Okri, Pulitzer Prize winning poet Vijay Seshadri, Padma Shri Keki Daruwalla, Ashok Vajpeyi, Poet laureate of the Netherlands Tsead Bruinja, Kaveh Akbar, 2020 Golden Wreath laureate Amir Or, TS Eliot prize winner George Szirtes, Nikola Madzirov, TriinSoomets, Elisa Biagini, Harry Man, Helene Cardona, Ajmer Rode and Christopher Merrill.
Neelesh Raghuwanshi, Nabina Das, Ganesh Visputay, Manohar Shetty, Christina Davis, Bibhas Roy Chowdhury, Prabal Kumar Basu, Nilim Kumar, A.J. Thomas and Priya Sarukkai Chabria will represent India.
Sonnet Mondal, poet and festival Director, Chair Poetry Evenings, said, “It is indeed painful to go online this year but I believe that the poetry that will be shared in the third edition of this festival will be no less than a festival of human realization. Festivals all over the world have been hosting their events online this year and we are happy to have been able to keep the show going.”
Tushar Dhawal Singh, Hindi poet and festival Director, said, “Our emphasis is on promising poetry from around the globe. The hard work is on and the allure is guaranteed. The world has seen enough this year but such a crisis shall not be able to bind our thoughts. It’s high time the real human voice is heard through poetry that has sustained us through the ages.”
The five-day session will be moderated by poets Sarabjeet Garcha, Ashwani Kumar, Saima Afreen and Sunil Bhandari.
Singer and music composer Prajna Dutta will hold a music session.
The event will be available for viewing through live streaming on YouTube and Facebook pages of Chair Poetry Evenings on all five days.
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