Ayyappa Panicker national poetry fest from

The poetry festival at Kanakakkunnu Palace will provide a platform for interacting with poets from across the country

Ayyappa Panicker foundation in association with Kendra Sahitya Academy and Bharat Bhavan is organising a two-day poetry festival on November 23 and 24 at Kanakakkunnu Palace. Representing contemporary Indian poetry, an array of poets including Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Hindi poets Arun Kamal and Rati Saxena, Kannada poet Prathibha Nandakumar, Telugu poets K Shiva Reddy and Sujata Padwari and Tamil poets Ravi Kumar and Sukumaran will participate in the fest. A group of prominent Malayalam poets will also be part of the festival.

The poetry festival will provide a platform for interacting with poets from across the country while getting a glimpse of contemporary Indian poetry scene in all its totality.

Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra will inaugurate the festival on November 23 at 11 am. Later, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam poets will present their poems. At 6 pm there will be a dance performance based on the famous literary works of a number of poets from Ezhuthachan to Ayyappa Panicker. Directed by Dr G Ushakumari, it will be a blend of classical and folk styles. The 75-minute dance will be performed by the students of University College.

On November 24 there will be a talk by Dr V Rajakrishnan at 10 am. Telugu, Kannada and Gujarati poets will present their work after the talk. It will be followed by a discussion on the topic ‘Poetry and Modernism’ and ‘Why Do I Write’. Later, there will be a talk by M Thomas Mathew and a poetry reading session of Malayalam poets. ‘Aiyyappa Panickerude Jeevacharitram by Dr M R Thampan and ‘Kerala Kavitha’ which was started by Ayyappa Panicker will be released at the occasion.

Prizes will be distributed to the winners of all Kerala literary and cultural quiz at the valedictory function to be held at 5.30 pm. Nadyagraha will present a visual interpretation of Aiyyappa Panicker poems later.

The programme will be directed by M K Gopalakrishnan. It’s for the first time an Indian poetry festival in memory of the late poet is held in the city.