Tag: Jaipur

Jaipur : Poetry is an integral part of art, culture and literature, and in a wider context, it reflects the heritage of a civilization. All set to go hybrid this year, the Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 will feature some of the most popular poets of the contemporary world. The Festival will offer a variety of sessions highlighting various aspects of poetry. 

Produced by pioneering performing arts and entertainment organisation Teamwork Arts, the Festival will have a session of readings and conversations. At one such session, writer, poet, translator and activist, Meena Kandasamy will take the audience on a journey navigating the dimensions of self, politics and gender. She has authored critically acclaimed works of poetry, prose and translation such as the Gypsy Goddess, This Poem Will Provoke You, When I Hit You, Exquisite Cadavers, The Orders were to Rape You and Women, Dreaming. Kandasamy and Executive Editor, Penguin Random House India, Manasi Subramaniam, will speak of the weight of words, beliefs, ideologies and the space in-between.

The epic poem, The Light of Asia, by Sir Edwin Arnold first took the world by storm in 1879. Sir Arnold’s rendering of the Bhagavad Gita was one of Mahatma Gandhi's undisputed favourites. Author and Rajya Sabha member, Jairam Ramesh’s book, The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha, attempts to contextualize and comprehend this important narrative poem that has now become a milestone in Buddhist historiography. Weaving together literary, cultural, political and social history, the book not only helps us understand the Buddha but also explores the life of the multifaceted poet who himself was steeped in Sanskrit literature.

In conversation with author and academic Malashri Lal, Ramesh will inspect the form and style of this iconic poem and its everlasting impact on world history.

At another session concentrated on the political and poetic articulation of the right to belong, Kandasamy and poet Akhil Katyal will be in conversation with eminent journalist Mandira Nayar. They will discuss the voice, strength and cadence of diversity and difference.