Catch Karnad, Gulzar at B'lore Poetry Fest

Energetic slam-poets and nostalgic ghazal-lovers alike will have something to look forward to in the second edition of the Bangalore Poetry Festival which will be held on August 5 and 6.

Festival organisers and co-founders of Atta Galatta, Subodh and Lakshmi Sankar, announced the details of the event at a press meet on Monday.

“Last year, at the first edition, we were not sure what kind of response we would get as it was the first festival exclusively about poetry. But it was a phenomenal success and we had participation of more than 4,000 people,” said Lakshmi  

The highlight of the second edition will be the sessions by Gulzar, Urdu poet and legendary lyricist in Hindi cinema.

“On the first day, Gulzar will talk about his latest book ‘Suspected Poems’ with Pavan Varma, former diplomat who translated the book. On the second day, Pavan will talk about his book ‘Yudhisthar and Draupadi,’ which Gulzar translated to Hindi,” festival director Shinie Antony said.

The festival will have over 50 poets from across borders and languages. Kannada poets and Jnanpith awardee playwrights Chandrashekar Kambar and Girish Karnad, Nabanita Kanungo from Shillong, Nia Davies from Wales, Tamil poet Salma and Urdu poet Ayaz Rasool Nazki are some of them. Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, the first Tibetan female poet to be published in English, is also among the participating poets.

Learn more about the art of writing verse with Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi’s session on the theory of poetry and then find out why people write poetry, in a session by author Jerry Pinto.

Besides discussions, there are performances to look forward to such as a poetry jugalbandi by writer-director Barnali Ray Shukla and Niranjan Iyengar, scriptwriter and lyricist, on the casualties of love. “Last year, we got feedback from participants that they wanted more poetry-reading and performances. So, this time we will have more poetry-reading sessions in which we encourage poets to read in their own languages,” said Lakshmi. The festival will be held at the Leela Palace, Old Airport Road. For details, log on to http://www.bengalurupoetryfestival.org.