VAK – THE RAZA BIENNALE OF ASIAN POETRY

 

SESSION II- Chaired by: Ashis Nandy

11:00 – 11:20: Marine Petrossian Armenia

11:20 - 11:40: Yang Lian China 

11:40 - 12:00: Alvin Pang Singapore

12:00 – 12:20:  Saw Wei Myanmar

12:20 -12:40: Shahnaz Munni Bangladesh

12:40 - 13:00: Closing remarks by Chair

 

 

SESSION III: Chaired by Apoorvanand

14:00 - 14:20: Emiko Mayashita Japan

14:20 -14:40:  Rosa Jamali Iran

14:40 - 15:00: Kaushiki Dasgupta India

15:00 - 15:20: Najwan Darwish Palestine

15:20 - 15:40: Youhong Liu China

15:40 - 16:00: Closing remarks by the Chair

 

SESSION IV: Chaired by Harish Trivedi

16:30 pm- 17:30 pm- Conversation: Truth of Poetry in Post Truth Times

Speakers: Ko Un South Korea; Saw Wei Myanmar; Nomaan Shauque India; Amir Or Israel; Sitanshu Yashaschandra India

 

There are many claimants to truth, many pretenders as well. Politics, religion, science, technology, ideologies, media, etc. all claim t possess truth, many a time, aggressively and stubbornly. Any of these ‘truths’ tend to create regimes of exclusivity, unquestionability and mindless following. Poetry, on the other hand, while daring to speak truth in spite of adversities, makes it participative and refuses to create any regime. Its truth is participative: it reaches completeness, if at all, when the readers, the others add some truth of their own to the poetic truth.

 

Our times are marked by a global sweep of untruth and lies. Engulfed by them one may lose faith in truth as also in the need for it. Poetry of our time is insisting that truth must be spoken, articulated and asserted. Poets invariably have begun a non-violent brigade of truth-speakers taking immense personal risks