The inaugural ‘Kolkata Poetry Confluence,’ an international multilingual literary festival and an exclusive poetry book fair, was recently announced. The event promises to be a life-changing experience for lovers of poetry in Kolkata.

Singer, Composer & Director Anindya Chatterjee, Poet & Lyricist Srijato, Director Sudeshna Roy, Author and Director, Actor & Writer Abhijit Guha graced the press conference.

Through a variety of performances, seminars, and workshops, Kolkata Poetry Confluence – River of Words is a transformative poetry experience that celebrates multilingualism and diversity. The festival is being organized by The Antonym and Bhasha Samsad: Publishing. Many internationally acclaimed poets, translators, and performers from India, Africa, Colombia, and Italy will also be in attendance.

Speaking at the event, Srijato said “My main reason for taking part in this initiative was to see how my poetry sounded when music was added to it. Frankly, I do not like the poetry that I write. Hence out of curiosity, I have agreed to be a part of this initiative”.

“In our attempt to explore various facets of poetry, we shall shed more light on translation, poetic films, music, and a plethora of other performative verse arts, to forward conversations on visual, tangible poetry,” said Prof. Chaiti Mitra, Director of Kolkata Poetry Confluence. There will be screenings of well-known poetry films as well as award-winning entries from the “Poetry in Motion” competition. Several unique competitions on poetic arts and translation are also open to all interested parties.

Sudeshna Roy narrated a story of her failure at writing a poem at school. She added that not all can become poets. However, poetry is a beautiful thing that can be read and appreciated by anyone. She mentioned that she will be reading poems at the event.

Anindya Chatterjee said “I think that with this initiative, the tech-savvy generation of today’s times can understand and appreciate the value of poetry. With so many diversions that today’s generation has to entertain themselves, I hope that they realize the value of poetry”.

Eminent personalities like Aparna Sen, Kalyan Ray, Anindya Chattopadhyay, and Sudeshna Roy will bring the English and Bengali renditions of the vernacular poems to life on stage.

The event will take place on the 11^th and 12^th of June.

Priyanka Dutta