Afsar Mohammad
Afsar Mohammad is a well-known Telugu poet and literary critic. He currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. His most recent book is Evening with a Sufi (2022). The poem presented is translated into English by Jamal Jones. (Pre-recorded video).
Year: 2022
Clare Pollard
Clare Pollard has published five collections of poetry with Bloodaxe, most recently Incarnation (2017); and a pamphlet, The Lives of the Female Poets (Bad Betty Press, 2019). Her play The Weather (2004, Faber) premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. Her poem “Pollen” has been nominated for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2022. Her latest book is a novel, Delphi (Fig Tree, UK/Avid Reader, US, 2022). Clare Pollard appears at Kaavya Dhaara: The HLF Poetry Festival with the support of the International Literature Showcase Collaboration Fund. The International Literature Showcase is a partnership between the National Centre for Writing and the British Council. (Online live).
Year: 2022
Gillian Clarke
Gillian Clarke was the National Poet of Wales (2008-2016) and is the President of Tŷ Newydd, the Welsh Writers Centre. She was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. Her publications include Selected Poems (Picador, 2016); Zoology, her ninth collection (Carcanet, 2017); Roots Home, essays and a journal (Carcanet, 2021); and The Hours, a pamphlet (Sleep Books, 202). Her version of Aneirin’s 7th-century Welsh poem, Y Gododdin, was published as a bilingual text by Faber in May 2021. The Silence, a collection of poems is in progress. Gillian Clarke appears at Kaavya Dhaara: The HLF Poetry Festival with the support of the International Literature Showcase Collaboration Fund. The International Literature Showcase is a partnership between the National Centre for Writing and the British Council. (Online live)
Year: 2022
Gorati Venkanna
Gorati Venkanna is a noted Telugu poet-singer and lyricist from Telangana. Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 for his poetry collection Vallanki Taalam, he has published three other volumes of poetry: Aekunaadam motha, Relaputhalu, and Alasendravanka. He is a nature poet and a people’s poet par excellence whose narrative style is influenced by oral ballads and the Yakshagana. Widely anthologized and translated into Kannada, Tamil, and English, his poems exhibit a mystical and Sufi worldview. Honoured with numerous awards, including the Kabir Samman, the Hamsa Award, the Kaloji Puraskaaram, and the Lankesh Award, he is currently a Member of the Telangana State Legislative Council.
Year: 2022
Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh
Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh is a legendary artist, writer, and educationist. He published his first set of free verse ‘Athwa’ in 1974 and is regarded as a pioneer of modern Gujarati poetry. The poem presented is translated into English by Hemang Desai. (Pre-recorded video)
Year: 2022
Harjinder Singh ‘Laltu’
Harjinder Singh ‘Laltu’ writes poetry, fiction, plays, books for children and neo-literates, and journalistic essays. His publications include five volumes of poetry, one anthology of short-stories, a book of poems for children, a play and a collection of poems for neo-literates.
Year: 2022
Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker is a poet, artist and video film maker, awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014. Her six collections, all published by Bloodaxe Books, include Over the Moon (2014) and Luck is the Hook (2018). Her poems have featured widely on BBC radio, television, the London Underground, Glasgow billboards, and Mumbai buses! She has had eleven solo exhibitions of drawings. She also scripts and directs video films, many of them for non-government organisations working in the area of shelter, education and health for women and children in India. Imtiaz Dharker appears at Kaavya Dhaara: The HLF Poetry Festival with the support of the International Literature Showcase Collaboration Fund. The International Literature Showcase is a partnership between the National Centre for Writing and the British Council. (Online live).
Year: 2022
Indu Joshi
Indu Joshi is one of the finest and strongest voices in contemporary Gujarati poetry. Her collection of poems Gajar was published by Sahitya Akademi in 2018. A widely published poet, she is also a playwright, translator, teacher of Gujarati, and teacher trainer. She is currently the subeditor of the Yuva Vibhaag of the literary magazine Farbas Trimasik.
Year: 2022
Jacinta Kerketta
Jacinta Kerketta is a poet and freelance journalist who writes in Hindi. Angor (2016) and Jadon ki Zamin (2018) are her bilingual (Hindi/English) poetry collections, and Ishwar and Bazaar (2022) is her third collection of Hindi poetry. Her poems have been translated into German, Italian, and French. She presented her poetry in the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Costa Rica, and Thailand. She was awarded the Voice of Asia Recognition Award (2014) by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Thailand and was selected as one of the 22 self-made women of India by Forbes India (2022).
Year: 2022
Jameela Nishat
Jameela Nishat has published three collections of poetry, and her work has been translated and featured in several notable anthologies, including Women Writing in India and In Their Own Voice. In 1999, SPARROW published a booklet on her life and work as part of its oral history project. In 2000, she edited Inkeshaf, an anthology of forty women poets from the Deccan. She is committed to promoting the cause of Dakhni, the unique Telugu-infused Hyderabadi Urdu. She is a recipient of the Indian Express’ Devi Award (2015) and the Maqdoom Award (1972). She currently runs “Shaheen: Resource Centre for Women” in the old city of Hyderabad.
Speaker @ HLF 2023, 2022, 2021, 2014-15
Jayanta Mahapatra
Jayanta Mahapatra is the first poet to win the Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry (1981). Besides 20 poetry collections in English, he has published seven in Odia. The Odia poem presented here is translated into English by the poet himself. (Pre-recorded video).
Year: 2022
Kalyani Thakur Charal
Kalyani Thakur Charal is a Dalit feminist poet who writes in Bangla. Her publications include four volumes of poetry: Dhorlei Juddho Sunischit, Je Meye Adhar Gone, Chandalinir Kabita, Chandalini Bhone; a volume of critical essays Chandalinir Bibriti; a collection of short stories; and an autobiography, Ami Keno Charal Likhi (Why I Write Charal). She has edited the volume Dalit Lekhika: Women’s Writing from Bengal. Since 2003, she has been publishing a multilingual magazine Nir which contains recordings of folklore, poetry, plays, and fiction, as well as non-fiction writing focusing on Dalit experiences. She won the Sparrow Literary Award in 2017 for her autobiography.
Speaker @ HLF 2023, 2022
Nadine Aisha Jassat
Nadine Aisha Jassat is the author of the poetry collection Let Me Tell You This (2019). Her work has also been published in popular anthologies such as It’s Not About the Burqa (Picador, 2019). She has performed her work internationally, including at Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Outriders Africa, and has appeared across media, including BBC’s The Big Scottish Book Club. She has taught creative writing for the likes of BBC Words First and The Arvon Foundation. She recently took part in Moniack Mhor’s International Writers’ Residency and is currently a writer in residence with the Scottish Book Trust. Her debut novel for children, The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them) is forthcoming. Nadine Aisha Jassat appears at Kaavya Dhaara: The HLF Poetry Festival with the support of the International Literature Showcase Collaboration Fund. The International Literature Showcase is a partnership between the National Centre for Writing and the British Council. (Online live).
Year: 2022
Nirmala Putul Murmu
Nirmala Putul Murmu is an award-winning Adivasi writer-activist from Dumka, Jharkhand. She writes in Santali and Hindi. Her two Santali collections of poetry were translated into Hindi as Apne Ghar ki Talash Mein (2004) and Nagare ki Tarah Bajti Shabd (2005). Her third book of poetry Beghar Sapne (2014) was originally written in Hindi. Her poetry has been translated into Hindi, English, Marathi, Urdu, Russian, and Korean. Honoured with numerous awards, including the Sahitya Sammaan, the Rajakeeya Sammaan, the Bharat Adivasi Sammaan, and the Vinoba Bhave Sammaan, she is currently the Mukhiya of Kurwa panchayat, Dumka block, Santhal Parganas, Jharkhand.
Year: 2022
