Indian poet-writer Tishani Doshi, Indian-born Sharanya Manivannan, Indian-born poet Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma and Mumbai and London-based Pakistani poet Imtiaz Dharker are among 140 poets who will be part of the biggest international poetic gathering in world history from June 26 to July 1 in London.
Poetry Parnassus, to be held at Southbank Centre, will feature poetry from all of the 204 nations competing in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The festival is named after Mount Parnassus in Greece, one of poetry’s spiritual and mythical heartlands, the home of the lyricist Orpheus and the dwelling place of the muses.
“Poetry Parnassus echoes the Epinicians — poetry commissioned as part of the Ancient Olympic Games,” the organisers said, adding that it will be an Olympics of poetry, barely weeks before the actual start of the 2012 Games.
The gathering will feature poets, spoken word artists, praise singers, rappers and story poetrytellers and will have recitals and performances in more than 50 languages and dialects.
Nobel laureates Seamus Heaney (Ireland) and Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), former Poet Laureates Kay Ryan (USA) and Bill Manhire (New Zealand) and award-winner Jo Shapcott (Great Britain) were among the 140 poets chosen from over 6,000 entries.
The organisers, artistic director Jude Kelly and curator Simon Armitage, said all the participating poets will contribute a poem to an anthology of poetry. There will also be magazines and books with translations of poems written in other languages and a 48-page booklet of poems with 100,000 copies will be distributed free to Londoners. The festival has chosen 50 British poets to support visiting Parnassus poets, by familiarising them with Southbank Centre and building ongoing links between UK and international poets. Some of the 140 poets will travel to festivals, libraries and detention centres across the UK from Manchester to Much Wenlock in the UK from July 1 to 15.
The organisers are still looking for poets to represent 23 countries missing from the line-up. They made an appeal to for nominations for poets from Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Dominica, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Namibia, Nauru, Niger, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa American, Seychelles, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
Chennai-based Doshi, who last year was longlisted for Orange Prize for her first novel, The Pleasure Seekers, is representing India at the poetry festival. The poet-dancer-writer has already published a collection of poetry, Countries of the Body. Born to a Welsh mother and Gujarati father, Tishani is collaborating with Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan on his biography.
Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma, was born in Punjab, and is representing India and Nepal, where he grew up. He became a shaman at the age of nine, but pursued Western education and has a master’s degree in English literature. Journalist, essayist and poet Sharannya Manivannan was born in India, but she is representing both Sri Lanka and Malaysia, where she grew up, at the poetry festival.
The vast presence of the India diaspora across the world means two more poets of Indian descent will be representing their countries at the festival — Australia-based Sudesh Mishra is representing Fiji; Shailja Patel, who divides her time between Nairobi and Berkeley, is the Kenyan poet and Saradha Soobrayen is representing Mauritius.
“Poetry Parnassus will be a monumental and unique happening which will make world history. As London welcomes the world this summer, we look to art as an agent for social change and as a testimony to human inspiration. We welcome poetry in all its guises — poetry as protest, poetry for peace and poetry for poetry’s sake. In this wonderful and diverse city we seek to remove the borders and embrace fundamental truths,” Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly said.