February 18, 2026 06:23 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Poetry can play a key role in today's conflict riddled world believe 'Chair Poetry Evenings' founders
Kolkata, Nov 28 (IBNS): Kolkata recently was the venue of an international poetry festival called ‘Chair Poetry Evenings’, which was attended by poets from across the world.
Poet and litterateur Sankha Ghosh and actor Victor Banerjee, both veterans in their own fields, inaugurated the event.
Introducing the event, Sonnet Mondal, one of the co-founders, said that as the world becomes progressively mired in socio-political, radical, cultural, and ethnic skirmishes, poetry can act as a restorative and a potent means of diffusing the conflicting values and experiences.
As the thought that every poet has his or her own favorite chair struck him, festival co-founder Tushar Dhawal Singh said he had found the name for the event.
Dutch Foundation for Literature, Flanders, Belgium and Slovenian Book Agency were among the sponsors who supported the festival.
Vladimir Martinovski from Macedonia, Miriam Van Hee from Belgium, Les Wicks from Australia, Barabara Pogacnik from Slovenia, Aruban Alfred Schaffer from Netherlands, John W Sexton from Ireland, Yekta from France, and Rajesh Joshi, Arun Kamal, Mangalesh Debral, K.Satchidanandan, Nitoo Das, Subodh Sarkar and Binayak Bandopadhyay from India participated in the festival.
At the inaugural function, a two minute silence was observed to pay respect to poets Vishnu Khare, Fahmida Riaz and Meena Alexander, who passed away recently.
The festival was not merely a gathering of poets but wove the spirit of Kolkata into it.
The participants were not only taken on a heritage walk but one of the sessions was also held at the Calcutta Heritage Bungalow.
Another session was held at the premises of Sasha, an organisation that is working with artisans and craft communities and promotes fair trade practices.
But it was the grand finale that thrilled the international poets -- a boat cruise along the banks of the Hooghly in Kolkata.
Visiting French poet Yekta summed up the experience, “Social media lacks physical dimensions of human relationships that are fulfilled in wonderful festivals like these. The river cruise was a very evocative experience that cannot be fathomed at once. I am still trying to join the dots.”
(Reporting by Tirna Chatterjee)
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Meraki 2.0: iLEAD Kolkata celebrates art of photography
Wed, Aug 20 2025
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts commemorates Partition Horrors Remembrance Day in Kolkata
Thu, Aug 14 2025
Snapchat hosts first Creator Connect event in Kolkata
Wed, Jul 02 2025
Rituparna Sengupta, Indraneil Sengupta, Alokananda Roy talk on forest land depletion and urban wildlife encounters
Tue, Apr 01 2025
Kolkata's first-ever Comic Con to be held on Feb 22-23
Sat, Feb 15 2025