10 Indian Poets To Recite Their Works To Germans As Part Of Poetry Festival

Mumbai: A group of 10 Indian poets will travel to Germany as part of an unique initiative ‘Poets Translating Poets’ as part of a two-year long literary project of Goethe Institute-Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai, an official said here on Tuesday.

These 10 Indians will be joined by poets from Pakistan and Sri Lanka who will travel over 12 cities in 45 days reciting their works for the German connoisseurs of Indian literature, starting September 15.

Martin Walde, Director of Goethe Institut-Max Mueller Bhavan

Contemporary poetry from India, Pakistan Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been translated into German, and German poetry was similarly translated into 20 languages across South Asia during the course of the two-year long project, aimed to stimulate new literary networks and open new avenues for trans-cultural understanding

Harish Meenashru, Sumanta Mukhopadhyay, Yashodhara Ray Choudhari, Lalnunsanga Ralte, Jameela Nishat, Shafi Shauq, Naseem Shafaie, Sukirtharani, Aruna Dhere and Sridala Swami are in the team.

They will be joined by a Tamil language poet from Sri Lanka Somasundrampillai ‘Soma’ Pathmanathan, and Pakistan’s Afzal Ahmed Syed and Amar Sindhu.

“Contemporary poetry from India, Pakistan Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been translated into German, and German poetry was similarly translated into 20 languages across South Asia during the course of the two-year long project, aimed to stimulate new literary networks and open new avenues for trans-cultural understanding,” said Martin Walde, Director of Goethe Institut-Max Mueller Bhavan here.

The ‘Poets Translating Poets’ project was initiated in October 2014 by the Mumbai institute along with its counterparts in South Asia, in collaboration with Literaturwerkstaff, Berlin and Haus fur Poesie to create a platform for poets from South Asia and Germany to translate each other’s works, he added.

IANS