Dear Friends,

Poetry festivals have been occasions when Kritya has expressed herself most vividly in a multitude of tongues. These have been times when we could actually hear her heartbeat, feel her pulse and also witness how much creative minds loved her. These festivals have also given Kritya the opportunity to indulge in joyous celebrations with her sister arts. Therefore, friends, as Kritya’s well wishers, we believe it is very important to keep these festivals in their full vibrancy.

Kritya has celebrated three festivals in the past, rejoicing in the borderless domains of art, bringing together poets from all over the world. Now it is time for Kritya to celebrate the glory of art and poetry once again. This time, in collaboration with the Punjab Arts Council, Kritya is all set to devote an inspiring and enjoyable three days celebrating poetry at the II Annual International Festival 2008, to be held at Chandigarh on the 14, 15 and 16 of November 2008.

We will bring out Poetry Festival Special Issue next month, but now in this issue let me take the opportunity to talk about this exciting festival that is coming up soon. Friends, Kritya's poetry festival 2008 is going to be held in Punjab, which is a rich land of culture and tradition, love and dedication. Its history dates back to the Harappan civilization (3300 - 1500 BCE :) and the state enjoys a unique culture and vitality, which can be felt immediately on arrival. This place is famous for its Gurus, warriors and lovers. The Punjabis are loving, caring and hardworking by nature. I am sure that when poets from other countries come here to take part in Kritya poetry festival, they will certainly like the Punjabi culture, the people here and the values they uphold.
We are happy to say that most of the great poets of our time have accepted our invitation and so we have a long list of great poets of our time from most of the Indian languages. At the same time we will have two poetry sessions for Punjabi poetry. Most enjoyably, we will have a few sessions of Sufi music and Punjabi folk art. A surprise pack is an art exhibition, which will be organized by an art journal named “Ka.” In short, this is going to be a great event with lots of excitement in store for our poet friends coming to Chandigarh.

Organizing such a festival is not a one man show; we have a number of friends to help us in our journey. Though we do not have any type of financial support till this time, the Punjab Art council is taking charge of local hospitality, and that is a big help to us. I am sure that we will able to set an example for an ideal poetry festival.

Kritya 2008 poetry festival is a totally non-government, non-beneficial carnival. Our aim is mainly to move right across borders and enable poets and artists from all over the world to interact creatively. We hope that this will be a venue where many new ideas and poetic philosophies will bud and blossom. We are delighted that we can present poetry written in at least 30 languages on the same stage. Moreover, we will be searching for poetry in painting, panel discussions, music, dance and even films.

Dear friends! We are happy to invite you to our festival, and hope that you will find it pleasurable to be part of our poetic expedition. We wish and pray for the long life of poetry and hope to bring back the blessedness and grace of poetry in this difficult world.

Paintings of this issue are made by a young but famous  artist and film maker Hamed Sahihi from Tehran- Iran. We again have lots of poetry in this issue. Hope you all will enjoy.

best wishes

Please visit- kritya2008