Sukrita Paul Kumar, Sonnet Mondal, Sangeeta Majumder and Usha Akella to represent India in Ars Poetica International Festival 2016

In its 14th edition, The Ars Poetica Festival, one of the biggest cultural events of Slovakia will be hosting Indian Poetry by Sukrita Paul Kumar, Sonnet Mondal, Usha Akella and Indian classical dance by Sangeeta Majumder. The four member Indian cultural delegation would represent India in Slovakia through poetry and dance from November 15th to 20th, later this year. The evening would consist of 20 minutes of poetry reading in Indian English by Sonnet Mondal, Sukrita Paul Kumar and Usha Akella followed by a reading of the Slovak translations of their poems by Slovakian actors and actresses.

The main attraction of the evening will be a simultaneous poetry and dance rendition by poet Sonnet Mondal and Kathak dancer Sangeeta Majumder. Echoing Shadows - as this rendition has been termed, is a visual verse-story presented in the form of a Poet reading his poetry, imagining himself as a village girl, simultaneously illustrated by steps of Kathak. This presentation will be first of its kind to be performed live in Slovakia. All the invited poets and performers have represented India multiple times before this, in various places all over the world and are known for their undying efforts towards sustainable existence of poetry and dance. Kathak Dancer Sangeeta Majumder is one of the vibrant contemporary starts in the field of Indian classical dance. She has represented India as a cultural ambassador in Argentina and Uruguay in 2015-16.

A recipient of Sangeet Natak Academy Yuva Puraskar in 2013, Sangeeta is the founder of the acclaimed ‘Strings N Steps’ academy. Sukrita Paul Kumar has been an Honorary Fellow of the International Writing Programme, University of Iowa (USA), and also of Hong Kong Baptist University and Cambridge Seminars. Currently holding the Aruna Asaf Ali Chair at Cluster Innovation Centre, Delhi University, Sukrita has been a recipient of many fellowships and residencies. Sonnet Mondal has read at the Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia in 2014, Uskudar International Poetry festival of the Government of Istanbul in 2015 and International Poetry Festival of Granada, Nicaragua in 2016.

The founder of the Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Sonnet was featured along with his poetry in Slovenian translation in the Literary Nocturno program of the Public Radio and Television network of Slovenia earlier this year. Usha Akella was one of the poets to read at the House of Lords, UK in June 2016. She was selected as a Creative Ambassador for Austin in 2015-16 and is the founder of the Poetry Caravan, an organization that offers poetry readings to disadvantaged audience in senior homes, women shelters and hospitals. Since its inception in 2003, the Ars Poetica festival has hosted more than 300 poets, including a few T.S. Eliot Prize winners, and US Poet Laureates. A festival anthology, featuring works of guests and participants on almost 400 pages, in both the original and Slovak translations will be launched during this event.