At the Oxford Bookstore in Kolkata and The Park in New Delhi, respectively, Oxford Bookstore and Juggernaut offered two fascinating discussions on Nabaneeta Dev Sen’s collection of poetry titled Acrobat.

In her book of dazzling poems titled “Acrobat,” Nabaneeta Dev Sen explores the pleasures and pains of first love, parenthood, and death with a restless, tactile imagination, simultaneously dissecting and lauding the rituals that define us as humans. It also reveals Dev Sen—a fiery feminist, tenacious intellectual, and political activist—at her most vulnerable and personal.

This dazzling book, which her daughter Nandana Dev Sen translated with exquisite lightness and lyricism, is at once sympathetic and uncompromising, conversational and symphonic.

The event at The Park in New Delhi discussed many facets of poetic translation while examining the work and writing of the late poet. On the occasion, eminent translator Arunava Sinha spoke with Nandana Dev Sen, and member of parliament, and novelist, Dr. Shashi Tharoor. To a packed audience at The Park, each speaker read their personal favorites from the book. Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Nandana Sen decided on the title “Acrobat” together since it not only expressed the variety of identities that a woman experiences in her life but also addressed the delicate balancing act of a poet. Nandana Sen described her emotional journey of translating her mother’s poetry.

A film montage was projected inside the Oxford Bookstore in Kolkata to introduce Nabaneeta Dev Sen, her life, and her work before the event got underway. Nandana Dev Sen engaged poet. lyricist and scholar Srijato Bandyopadhyay in conversation. Her late mother Nabaneeta Dev Sen and her cousin Samantak Das, the pro-vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, who passed on that day, were honored that evening. As Nandana Dev Sen and Srijato Bandyopadhyay reminisced about Nabaneeta Dev Sen with affection and read out a few selected poems from her original works and their translations, the evening took on a beautiful atmosphere.
For more details, visit: www.oxfordbookstore.com