Kritya2012- an international poetry festival –Dedicated to Rabindra Nath Tagore
“Poetry, the oldest form of literature, is always kept alive in other art forms like, dance, music, photography, films and painting. So we celebrated it by singing, acting, talking and painting poetry.”
The 7th edition of Kriya I
nternational Poetry Festival, Kritya 2012 was held at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram from January 16 – 18, 2012 and the extension of the festival was held on January 19 at Asan Smarakam, Thonnakkal and on January 20 and 21 at Sameeksha Ashram, Kalady. It has a great occasion for the organizers and participants alike as the festival had once again come to its homeland Kerala. The festival honoured the poet-seer Rabindranath Tagore and celebrated his idea of peace in this period of unrest. In perfect keeping with the theme, the three day festival at Vyloppilli Bhavan began with Rabindra Sangeet soulfully rendered by Mrs. Abhradita Maitra Banerjee, the well-known Hindustani musician. Poets from all over the world took part in the ceremonial lighting of the lamp. In her opening speech, Dr. Rati Saxena, the Festival Director highlighted the significance of the collective of poets and talked about the commitment of Kritya Literary Foundation to furthering poetry and other art forms.
Artistes from Eklavya Ashram staged a Visual Presentation of Malayalam
poetry, which was well received by the audience. Jnanpith award winner and
Kerala’s own favourite poet Shri. O.N.V. Kurup rendered the inaugural poetry International poetry Festival Kritya2012reading. This was followed by a special poetry reading by the renowned Korean poet, Wolsan Kim Ki Dong. Before the poetry reading sessions began, Odveig Klyve’s photo poetry exhibition and K. Jayakumar’s painting exhibition on Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali were inaugurated by Mr. Samil Yang, President of the Asia-Iberoamerica Cultural Foundation. It was a wonderful three days that followed with every minute soaked in poetry – the poets reading their poems in their mother tongue, with the English translation projected and the Malayalam translations rendered beautifully by talented and creative students from the prestigious N.S.S. College, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram. This innovative way of presentation was much applauded by the audience, with the poets enjoying themselves to the full, listening to their own creative pieces mould themselves into another language and its sensibility. The evenings were enriched with poetry films, each distinctive in
itself. Another highlight of this festival was the publication and release of the bilingual volume of poetry ‘Intimate Distance/Dooreyanennal Oppam’
comprising English and Malayalam translations of the poems presented at
the fest. This book edited by 
Dr.Jayasree Ramakrishnan Nair has been
published by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur. The three day festival at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan concluded on 18th January 2012 with the wellattended valedictory function. Shri. K.C. Joseph, Minister for Rural
Development, Planning and Culture was the Chief Guest; Shri. Perumbadavam
Sreedharan, President, Kerala Sahitya Akademi presided over the function.
Felicitations were offered by Shri. Wolsan Kim Ki Dong, the revered Korean
poet, Shri Ataol Behramoglu, the famous poet from Turkey and Shri. K.K.
Gopalakrishnan, Director, Kutiyattam Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram. Shri.
Mohammed Kunju Mettharu, Trustee, Kritya Trust offered the vote of thanks.
There was a remarkable Kutiyattam performance by Painkulam Ramachakyar
Smaraka Kalapeedam sponsored by Sangeet Natak Akademi, Center for
Kutiyattam, Thiruvananthapuram. This traditional performing art made a great impact on the visiting poets who found the rendering, costumes,
accompaniment and other details unique and one of a kind.
On the 19th all the international poets were invited to Asan Smarakam,
Thonnakkal, where again they read their poems. It was a great occasion for
Poets of the festival from different countries –
Anna Lombardo (Italy)
Ataol Behramoglu-(Turkey)
Bengt Berg (Sweden).
Davide Rondoni (Italy).
Dennis Nurkse
Francoise Roy (Canada).
Francesca Cricelli (Brazil).
Gabriel Rosenstock (Ireland).
Hanane Aad (Lebanon)
Menna Elfyn (UK).
Odveig Klyve (Norway).
Peter Waugh (UK).
Raquel Lanseros (Spain).
Sayumi Kamakura -( Japan)
Samil Yang (Korea).
Zingonia Zingone (Italy).
Poets from India
ONV KURUP- is a Major Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who
won Jnanpith Award,the highest literary award in India for the year 2007
ASHOK VAJPEYI -a Major Hindi poet-critic, translator, editor and cultureactivist,is a major cultural figure of India.
K.SATCHIDANANDAN – a major Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam,
and English
Manglesh Dabral
-Neela Padmanabhan- eminent Tamil novelist, short story writer, poet, critic,and essayist, is in fact a bilingual writer, (writing in Tamil and Malayalam),
K.Jayakumar ( English )is a Poet, Artist , lyricist and scriptwriter
Harshad A. Trivedi – Eminent Gujrati Poet and Short story writer, Critic ,an anEditor.
Rajendra Patel- is a Gujarati poet, short story writer and translator.
Khaleel Ur Rehman
Arif Raja -Kannada-
Shaista Yosuf- (Urdu )
Kavi yakoob-Telugu-
Manushyaputran –Tamil
Tarini Shubhadayini-Kannada-
Sukumaran – Tamil-Poet, Writer, Translator and Journalist
Shail Agrawal –
Poets from Malayalam Language
1- Akkitham Achuthan Namboodiri
2-Smt Sugathakumari
3-Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri
4-D. Vinaya Chandran
5-Shri Balachandran Chullikkad
6-Chemmanam Chacko
7- V Madhusudan Nair
8-S Rameshan Nair
9-P Narayanakurup
10-Ezhacheri Ramachandran
11-Shri Anavar Ali
12-Rafeek Ahemed
13-Smt. Vijayalakshmi
14-Smt Rose Mary
15-Shri Indra Babu
16-shri Mahanakrishanan Kalady
17-Gopalakrishnan PN
18-Shri. Sebastain
19-Anitha Thambi
20-Savitree Rajeevan
IV- Reflections of poetic forms
Kritya’s engagement with arts and the aesthetic experience through poetry and allied art forms has always manifest itself in the blending of the visual and the poetic. On the occasion an Art Exhibition and film exhibition has been envisaged. Kritya afford a forum for art lovers the world over to witness a visual extravaganza through the works of upcoming Indian artists. The art workshop was open simultaneously along with the poetry festival. The exhibition was opened to the public on all days of the festival. Kritya2012 organized live painting performance by B.D.Dethan, One of the well-known artists in Kerala. B.D.Dethan studied painting at the School of Arts, Thiruvananthapuram (Now College of Fine Arts). He has held the position of a 
creative director at various public and private sector institutions.B.D.Dethan is a chronicler of the human existence. He works as a link between the modern visual philosophy and literature of the Kerala moderns. Dethan’s ‘Kali Series’ done during the 1980s made strong impressions amongst the Kerala populace as the pictures could evoke responses from both the intellectuals and the laymen. Dethan is a versatile and a true contemporary modern artist who can work with different mediums. His Women series of new millennium is famous for its sensitive and sensual depiction of women. Dethan mostly anchors his works in the surrealist language, which helps him to articulate the unpalatable truths of a society in a palatable way. Dethan’s works are loaded with a social critique in a very provocative style.Jayakumar’s Painting Exibition on Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Gitanjali
V-Poetry in film
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.Distributors, naturally, are all of the opinion that poets don’t sell seats. They do not discern whence comes the very language of the cinema. Without poets, thevocabulary of the film would be far too limited ever to make a true appeal to the public. The equivalent of a babble of infants would not sell many seats. If
the cinema had never been fashioned by poetry, it would have remained no
more than a mechanical curiosity, occasionally on view like a stuffed whale.”
-Orson Welles, from “Ribbon of Dreams”
Poetry is porous and facile in its seamless extension over many genres. Short films use the language and images of metaphor and metonymy much the same as poetry does. The festival have been giving a stage to poetry films an order to widen the space of poetry. There will be space for talented young poetsfilmmakers to showcase their talent to an international audience Films based on poems, poems turned into films are welcome
Odveig Klyve – Geopoeticon is a project creating visual poetry through posters and short films with international contemporary poetry crossing borders of language, politics and geography. Several of the short films in the Geopoeticon project have been screened at poetry and film festivals in Europe, US and India. This programme contains films with poems from India, Irak, Yemen, Mexico,Kenya and Estonia.