Padmaja Iyengar 'Paddy' |
A Report on the International Multilingual Poets’ Meet & Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017
The Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati (CCVA),
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India, engaged in the promotion of literature, art
and culture, organized the 3rd edition of their International
Multilingual Poets’ Meet at the A plus Convention Centre, Vijayawada on 11 and
12 November, 2017. The event also saw the launch of the 3rd edition
of CCVA’s International Multilingual Poetry Anthology Amaravati Poetic
Prism 2017 at the hands of the Hon’ble Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative
Assembly Dr. Kodela Siva Prasad Rao. Several eminent politicians, bureaucrats,
literary luminaries and prominent persons from Amaravati and Vijayawada graced
this poetry event on both days, both on the dais and off it. Hon’ble Deputy
Speaker of the A P Assembly Sri Mandali Budha Prasad, Hon’ble Mayor of
Vijayawada Sri Koneru Sridhar, the very first Mayor of Vijayawada Dr. Jandhyala
Sanker, Krishna ZP Chairperson Smt. Gadde Anuradha, Sri Mukesh Kumar Meena IAS,
the Secretary to AP Govt – Tourism & Culture, Dr. Vizai Bhaskar, CEO, AP
Creativity & Culture Commission were some of the dignitaries who graced the
event and spoke highly of the initiatives and efforts of the CCVA to promote
literature, art and culture and lauded Sri Y. Harish Chandra Prasad the Chief
Mentor & Founder, CCVA & the Malaxmi Group, for his vision in setting
up CCVA at Vijayawada to promote art, literature and culture and initiatives
like Preserve Heritage for Posterity,, Dr. E. Sivanagi Reddy, the CEO, CCVA and
CCVA’s Hon. Literary Advisor Smt. Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy the curator of Amaravati
Poetic Prism 2017, showcasing 948 poems (including translations) in 85
languages contributed by about 500 poets from 67 countries.
The poetry reading sessions that followed the inaugural and the
formal launch of Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017, saw a mini poetic universe
descend upon the A Plus Convention Centre, Vijayawada as the event witnessed
the participation of 15 overseas poet delegates from 14 countries viz., USA,
Israel, Austria, Denmark, Albania, Poland China, Croatia, Estonia, Philippines,
Iran, Jordon, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia and over 100 Indian poets. Mr. Darshan
Darshi, Kendra Sahitya Akademi-2006 Awardee for Dogri poetry, Dr. Sangram Jena Kendra
Sahitya Akademi Translation-2011 Awardee for Odiya, Dr. Anil Kumar Boro, Kendra
Sahitya Akademi-2013 Awardee for Bodo poetry, several State Sahitya Akademi
awardees and other prestigious award winners were amongst the poet delegates
from India. From overseas, winner of several awards and honours including the Honoured
Poet recognized at the 1981 White House Salute to Poetry Keresan language Poet
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Simon J. Ortiz of USA, recipient of the Zhujiang Poetry
Award & Chinese poet Ms. Jami Proctor Xu, Naji Naaman Prize winning Polish
poet Dr. Darius Pacak, Gustav Suits Poetry Award winner Estonian poet Margus
Lattik, State & Provincial awards winner Sri Lankan Tamil poet Mr.
Somasundarampillai Pathmanathan ‘SoPa’, were amongst some of the foreign
languages poets.
On both the days, sounds of poetry in various Indian and world
languages reverberated from the tastefully decorated podium. The poet delegates
and the audience were treated to poems in some rare Indian languages like
Kaithi (a 5th century language), Koshli (Sambalpuri), Mizo, Bodo,
Dogri, besides Maithili, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Sanskrit and
all the four South Indian languages, as also foreign languages like Keresan,
Estonian, Croatian, Polish, Chinese, Filipino, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew,
Albanian, Danish, Sri Lankan Tamil etc., And of course, English too!!!
The unique International Multilingual Poetry Anthology Amaravati
Poetic Prism 2017 showcases poems in some rare languages like Awadhi,
Brij Bhasha, Bodo, Mizo, Santali, Koya, Gondi, Kaithi, Kandu (Chota Nagpur),
Koshli / Sambalpuri etc. besides all major Indian languages, and Keresan,
Zapotec, Estonian, Dutch, Latin, Greek, Croatian, Pangasinan, etc. besides all
the major foreign languages. Notably, poems in Odiya and English by Padma Vibhushan
& Gnanpith Awardee Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra IAS (Retd) adorns Amaravati
Poetic Prism 2017 as also those of several Central and State Sahitya Akademi awardees and winners
of prestigious international awards and honours like the Member of British Empire (MBE), Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters), Chevalier
de l’Ordre, (Order of Merit), European
Grand Prix for Poetry, Naji Naaman Prize for Complete Work, SAARC Literary
Award etc.
Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017 has been recently recognized as a
Record by the India Book of Records. The previous edition Amaravati Poetic
Prism 2016 with 527 poems in 53 languages has also received recognition as
a Record from the Limca Book of Records as a “Poetry Anthology with Most
Languages”. Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017 has apparently beaten its
own previous records!
The Sahitya Akademi (Central, State & Yuva) Awardees from
India like Darshan Darshi (Dogri), Dr. Anil Kumar Boro (Bodo), Manthri Krishna
Mohan (Yuva Sahitya Akademi Puraskar-Telugu), Mercy Margaret (Yuva Sahitya
Akademi Puraskar-Telugu), and State Sahitya Akademi awardees like Anuradha
Bhattacharyya, Dev Bharadwaj, Dr. Rajwanti Mann, Rajinder Kaur, to name a few,
were honoured as also some delegates who helped us with the anthology compilation
work and themselves accomplished poets too like Elizabeth Kurian ‘Mona’, Rama Krishna Perugu,
Raj Babu Gandham, Swapna Behera and Soumya Vilekar, to name a few. All our
guests from overseas, each of them an accomplished and award-winning poet, were
honoured at the event viz. Prof. Dr. Simon J Ortiz (USA), Jami Procter Xu (USA
& China), Col. Delo Isufi (Albania), Dr. Zoran Mimica (Croatia), Muniam
Alfaker (Denmark), Dr. Dariuz Pacak (Poland), Prof. Nizar Sartawi (Jordon), S.
Pathmanathan (Sri Lanka), Ms. Gayatree Srikandavel (Sri Lanka), Gili Haimovich
(Israel), Dr. de Vincent Miles (Philippines), Ms. Preety Sengupta (USA), Dr.
Gitanjali Himanka (Sri Lanka), Margus Lattik (Estonia) and Mahtab Qadr (KSA).
The poet delegates were treated to a scintillating Kathak dance
performance by Ms. Anjali Patil & Troupe, Canada and a captivating
Mohiniattam dance by Ms. Seena Sreevalson, a poet delegate from Kerala. And
then there was also a song in the Keresan language rendered by Poet & Prof.
Emeritus Dr. Simon J Ortiz of USA and Rabindra Sangeet by Poet Supratik Sen of
Kolkata. On 12 Nov’17, the delegates were taken for a boat ride across rivers
Krishna & Godavari, and a visit each to Amaravati and the holy Kanaka Durga
Temple.
The International Multilingual Poets’ Meet was co-hosted by M/s.
Greenko as the Title Sponsor and AP Tourism, AP Creativity & Culture
Commission, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, AP Mineral Development
Corporation Limited and Andhra Bank, as sponsors.
The Embassy of Israel in India facilitated the participation of
the poet delegate from Israel Ms. Gili Haimovich.
Amaravati Poetic Prism 2017 has been printed at Pragati Printers,
Hyderabad and M/s Cyberwit, Allahabad are handling its distribution and sale.
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