Kritya2012 International Poetry Festival to be held at Thiruvananthapuram from January 16-18, 2012

A festival that brings together creative minds from all over the world and encourages constructive interaction

Kritya2012 is an annual international poetry festival held by Kritya, a Trust established to widen the scope and reach of global literature, arts and culture. It seeks to foster excellent communication through translation, publication, performance, interaction and exchange of literary ideas among various languages and cultures.
Bringing together leading poetic figures from India and abroad, the 7th Edition of Kritya International Poetry Festival will be held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (India), from January 16-18, 2012 with an extension of the festival to be held from January 19-21, 2012. Kritya 2012 is of special significance because the festival is being held for the second time in its homeland Kerala, in an effort to draw new vigour and succour from its roots. This year the festival is dedicated to Literature Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and his ideas on peace and brotherhood. This time, the venue will resound with the song of Rabindranath Tagore, highlighting Kritya's efforts to make friendship with peace at this time of terror and unrest. Kritya aims to celebrate peace without treaties and without demagogy, holding firmly to the conviction that though a poem cannot stop a war or an earthquake, it can give one the courage to face them. A poem cannot quench hunger, but it can satisfy one's mind and soul, and show an ideal way to live.
Previous festivals were held in: Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Jammu (Jammu & Kashmir), Chandigarh (Punjab), Mysore (Karnataka) and Nagpur (Maharashtra). Every year, the Poetry Festival is held in different regions of the country, its itinerant nature making it unique. Combining poetry with other forms of art such as painting, music, poetry films, theatre and folk/performing arts, the festival allows international artists to meet and appreciate local artists from different Indian cultures and languages.
According to the tradition, the 7th Edition of Kritya International Poetry Festival will once again celebrate poetry in combination with other art forms. Along with the poetry readings by world poets, the festival will incorporate poetry in painting. Mr. B.D Dethen from Kerala will paint live on Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and K. Jaya Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala will exhibit his paintings on Tagore's Gitanjali. Filmmakers from Norway will screen their poetry films along with Indian filmmakers Gitanjali Rao and Noornad Prasadan. As a part of photo poetry, Odveige Klyve from Norway will exhibit her Photo-Poetry. Kritya 2012 will also present poetry performance in the form of Koodiyattom, the popular performing art form of Kerala.

25 international poets and more than 50 Indian poets including Malayalam poets are expected to take part in the festival. The festival will facilitate a healthy interaction between diverse cultures and traditions, and is expected to realize the noble concept of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' by forging strong bonds between representative figures from different parts of the world.

Rati Saxena,

Festival Director,

kritya2012