VAK – THE RAZA BIENNALE OF ASIAN POETRY

 

SESSION V- Chaired by: Shamin Hanfi

11:00 – 11:20: Sitanshu Yashaschandra India

11:20 - 11:40: Chheangly Yeng Cambodia

11:40 - 12:00: Thongbay Photisane Laos

12:00 – 12:20:  Hasmik Simonian Armenia

12:20 -12:40: Udayan Vajpeyi India

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

 

 

SESSION VI: Chaired by Romi Khosla

14:00 - 14:20: Chador Wangmo Bhutan

14:20 - 14:40: Zebo Mirzaeva Uzbekistan

14:40 - 15:00: Gvanca Kereselidze Georgia

15:00- 15:20: Nomaan Shauque India

15: 20 - 15:40: Asad Zaidi India

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

 

SESSION VII: Chaired by Romila Thapar

16:30-17:30 - Conversation: Violence and Poetry

Speakers: Chheangly Yeng Cambodia; Shahnaz Munni Bangladesh; Asad Zaidi India; Gvanca Kereselidze Georgia; Afzar Rahbeen Afghanistan

 

A lot of poetry these days is taking place in circumstances of mindless and often murderous violence. Since poetry demolishes all dichotomies between ‘us’ and ‘them’, re-energizing our basic humanness, it is often pitched against such violence. Violence could be of arms and war, of ideas and perceptions, of politics, religions, media, special norms, etc it is a complex matter and cannot be resisted without inviting personal harm or emotional damage.

 

Violence has been a major human predicament through history and seems to have assumed monumental proportions in contemporary times. Most poetry cannot and does not endorse violence nor is it an accomplice. Because of this resistance, its courage and insistence on conscience can be, in a bizarre way, seen as lack of courage. Yet poetry is in our times, e genre, incredibly pluralistic, of nonviolence

 

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