Kritya 2021, an international poetry festival, July 4, to July 13, 2021 Virtual platform, 150 poets around the world, in more than 50 Indian and international languages-
I come to the peace of wild things
Wendell Berry
The peace of being in harmony with the larger world
The peace of working in solidarity with our fellow species
The peace of living in hope that tomorrow will dawn brighter
The peace of standing up for what is right, for what must be
The peace of us as one
Kritya International Poetry Festival with its poetry cult joined by world citizens, lovers of spoken and written word, culture and art was able to bring together in its fifteen edition this monsoon more than 150 poets across the world.
Kritya with the unwavering support of poets and poetry enthusiasts has taken upon itself the great responsibility of preserving the legacy of world poetry and has been able to contribute immensely over decades to preserve the tradition of poetry by bringing together the different voices from across the world transcending the barriers of borders or language.
Kritya believed in pluralism and dreams of peace in times of war. It is a global confluence where poets, translators, world leaders, academics and messengers of peace from across the world come together not only to show case their own culture but also return richer having had the opportunity to imbibe the ethos of India and its varied languages brought by Indian poets
Language with its powerful medium of written and spoken word is a significant milestone in the history of evolution of mankind but emotion is the common thread running through the diversity of world languages irrespective of the difference in cultures. Kritya has always been fortunate to be able to give a space to the rainbow of world languages in its International Poetry Festivals. This year the vibrancy of rainbow colours of Poetry Sky was adorned with participation of young and senior eminent poets from South Africa, Egypt, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Korea, Palestine, Syria Black Mountain Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, El Salvador,Mexico, Austria, Azerbaijan,Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Bangladesh, Russia, Vietnam, Israel , Nepal, Palestine, Iran to name a few alongside the Indian poets who brought in the beauty and ethnicity of the vernacular languages.
The ten day long festival commenced on 4th of July, 2021 with an introduction of Kritya and the Festival Director Rati Saxena and moderating by Vinita Agrawal a leading contemporary Indian poet, followed by inaugural address by K Satchidanandan, eminent poet, critic and pioneer of modern poetry. He aptly said that poetry is the shared mother tongue of all human beings, name of the nameless and voice of the voiceless and shared evocative poems He was joined by Guests of Honour Ko Un, South Korean Poet renowned for his campaign for Korean Democracy, Vishal Bharadwaj, Indian film director, music composer, winner of seven national awards and poet who shared poetic anecdotes from film industry along with his poems, Hannan Awwad, Palestinian leader, legislator, activist and scholar. Vote of thanks was given by Sukrita Paul, well known writer and poet.
The voices of poetry came together in twenty reading sessions spanned over ten days. Each day showcased two stellar reading sessions with seven poets in each reading. The poems were read in their original tongue which ranged from languages without script or European languages or that of Central Asia or Eastern Asia . The same were followed by their translations in Hindi and English, thus weaving all colours in Vibrance. The luminous synergy of this world festival was wonderfully infectious and by the tenth day invisible threads of thought had bonds were formed holding together the universe in magic of poetry.
The highlights of the festival included poetry read by Zolani Mkiwa, leader and poet from Africa, Cao Shui from China, Hans D. Amadé Esperer from Germany, Moëz Majed
Tunisia, Ashraf Aboul-Yazid Ashraf-Dali from Egypt, Arundhati Subramanaiam English in India India, Ghassan Alkunaizi from Saudi Arabia, Vandana Tete from tribal India, Aparna Mohanty Odia language in India Kamal Vora from Gujrati language in Indian, , Diti Ronen from Israel, , Victor Rodrigues Nunez from Cuba, Vadim Philip Nikolayev from Russia, Farid Khan and Azeem Thannimoodu from India.
The valedictory function on 13th of July, 2021 was graced by Subodh Sarkar, eminent poet and critic Subodh Sarkar from India and poet Ashraf Abul Yazid from Egypt as well poet friends of Kritya from world over.
We are grateful to the participating Indian poets who made this poetry confluence a unique success and different from any other congregation by bringing together their respective regional languages and the power of word thereby mirroring to the world the rich and diverse cultural pluralism of India.
A true reflection what Indian subcontinent was to the world in terms of culture in ancient times, Kritya Poetry Movement with its heart rooted in India is brings together passion for spoken and written word for poetry lovers across this wonderful earth. This world is a fine place worth fighting for said Earnest Hemingway.
We are indebted to poets across the world who have channeled their blessings to Kritya, thereby energizing it with the healing power of poetry as a true testimony to pluralism and power of human love, making it the united voice of arts.
Kritya Poetry Festival has been described as the most prolonged honeymoon with poetry on earth and we are grateful to poets across the world for their contribution of poetry to this movement where language emerges as music in one voice making humanity hope for a better world.
I also thanks to young poets team, who moderate different sessions with grace- Babitha Justin Kamayani Vasishtha, Shely Boil, Smitha Sahgal, Pooja Priyamvada, Mandakini, Vaishnavi. And Shail Agrawal.
Remember, kritya is the body, which is run without any financial support from any cooperate Co. or government funds.
Only love for poetry is the reward here
Rati Saxena
Festival Director
Kritya Poetry Festivals