An annual India Poetry Reading is arranged at Harvard University every May.  The event commenced in 1997 and has continued every year.  This year’s program is scheduled for Sunday, May 12, to be held at 3 PM in the TSAI Auditorium in the building CGIS South (Room S010), 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge.   CGIS South was formerly 1730 Cambridge Street. It's the right hand side building as you go towards east from Design School on Cambridge Street in Cambridge.  We will be hosted by Harvard South Asia Institute and the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. http://southasiainitiative.harvard.edu/.

The South Asia Institute (SAI) at Harvard University engages faculty and students through interdisciplinary programs to advance and deepen the teaching and research on social, political, cultural and economic issues relevant to South Asia.  The Department of South Asian Studies encompasses the older Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies.  It deals with language education, philosophy, linguistics and religion in Indian subcontinent.

Our topic this time is "Healing".  You can write a new poem or pick up a poem from the literature.  All languages are welcome.  We will read all as time would permit.   Please do encourage others in the community to join.

A new group called South Asian Poets of New England (SAPNE) has started as an offspring of Harvard Annual Poetry meets. It convenes quarterly as a poetry reading group to listen to languages and voices. More than forty poets from various regions in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are actively writing and participating in recitations in New England Area.

Poetry has been called the elixir of life. India has been the home of bards, story tellers, event chroniclers, and literary geniuses over her history.  She has contributed to the world the form of lyricism, expression, meters, language and the fanfare of poetry in life. From the ancient Vedas to the late romantic compositions in films, India has created songs for every aspect of human life and integrated it into the cultural fabric of her people. Over time, many languages and dialects have spawned over the geography of the subcontinent and each has made its mark in contributing ideas, thoughts and rhythm to the stream of life in India.  SAPNE is a mirror of this life.

SAPNE poets write in many Indian languages and in English. Many are published in magazines and have their collections of poems printed in books. Their work is widely recognized here and abroad. Some have been awarded literary prizes and some of the poems are prescribed in the syllabi of Universities in India. You can join the group, (www.sapne.us) to come and read your poems.

As noted by Poet Vivek Sharma in one of his reports of the Annual India Poetry Reading:  “As the event came to the close, poets of different chimes walked out with their varied rhymes. The stirrings that brought us all together run deeper than the physical and metaphysical distances that separate us as migrants from India or Indians in India from people of different languages, states or religions. Only by exchanging words, no matter what our language is, will we begin to transcend our distances, and approach the plane of spirituality where humans as poems find their true resonance.”

Please contact Dr. Bijoy Misra, He can be reached by email at bmisra@fas.harvard.edu or by phone at 781.259.0029.  The Gujarati poet of eminence Sri Chandrakant Shah will help coordinate the event.  He may be contacted at chandu420@gmail.com or by phone at 781.983.4941.  

|