Menka Shivdasani- Mumbai, India 2013

ORGANIZER: Menka Shivdasani

CONTACT: :menka.shivdasani@gmail.com

FINAL PRESS RELEASE: final press release for 100 Thousand Poets for Change Mumbai September 16 pdf

Kitab Khana to host poetry festival for 100 Thousand Poets for Change

As the third edition of the global movement 100 Thousand Poets for Change gains momentum around the world, Kitab Khana, the well-known book store in South Mumbai, will host a four-day poetry festival this September. The event, curated by Mumbai-based writer Menka Shivdasani, takes place between September 26 and 29, 2013 (6 p.m onwards) and includes musical performances and readings by city poets. This is the second time that Kitab Khana is hosting the event in Mumbai.

“We are extremely happy to be associated with 100 Thousand Poets for Change once again,” says Mrs Amrita Somaiya, Director, Kitab Khana. “Kitab Khana believes in being a space to provide intellectual thought, exchange and a place to support ideas of social change. We are a bookstore with a difference and thank Menka and her team in helping us become such a space.”

Suneeta Rao, the internationally acclaimed pop singer and a spokesperson for LAADLI, will perform on the inaugural day, with guitarist Ravi Iyer. This event, on September 26, is being held in association with LAADLI, a Population First initiative for the girl child, and will include a performance by child artiste Afsana Ahmed and poetry readings by Prof. Madhuri Chedda and Charmayne D’Souza, among others. Dolly Thakore, theatre personality, social activist with women and children’s issues and the National Co-ordinator for the Laadli Media Awards will read poetry on the theme of the girl child.

“The cause of the Girl Child has always been close to my heart,” says Suneeta Rao. “As a spokesperson for LAADLI, the Girl Child Initiative by Population First, it has been an honour to help this sincere and hard working team in their efforts to save, help and protect the Laadlis of our Nation. To help them achieve their goal, and to help change the way India treats its women, has been my privilege – and I will continue to do so as long as I live – so that we can stop this horrifying practise of eliminating the Girl Child.”

On September 27, in a programme coordinated by writer and artist Anjali Purohit, the focus will be on women’s lives. This event, entitled ‘Holding up Half the Sky’, will have music and poetry based on the three sub-themes of Woman and work, Being Woman and Woman as daughter, mother, wife, lover and partner. There will be musical recitals by Amarendra Dhaneshwar and Mukta Raste and readings by poets Annie Zaidi, Rochelle Potkar, Menka Shivdasani, Anjali Purohit and Smita Sahay. Gujarati poet Dileep Jhaveri will read from his Vyasochchhvas, (A Breath of Vyas) based on the Mahabharata.

On September 28, which is the global day for 100 Thousand Poets for Change this year, classical singer Neela Bhagwat of the Gwalior gharana will perform her interpretations of Tagore’s compositions from her concert Robi Anurag; this will be followed by ‘Poems for Peace’ readings by city poets, including Ranjit Hoskote, Mustansir Dalvi and Hemant Divate.

For the final day of this festival, September 29 at 10.30 a.m., Mrs Rati Dady Wadia, a prominent educationist in Mumbai and former principal of Queen Mary School, is coordinating a programme with children, on the themes of peace and sustainability. Students of the Bombay International School, Avabai Petit School, Bandra, J.B. Petit School, G.D. Somani School and Gopi Birla School will participate. Poems by Ayra Cama will also be presented and an exhibition, ‘Wonders of Nature’ will be held.

The global movement, 100 Thousand Poets for Change (www.100tpc.org) began in 2011. An event that began primarily with poet organizers, 100 Thousand Poets for Change has grown into an interdisciplinary coalition with year round events which includes musicians, dancers, mimes, painters and photographers from around the world.

“Peace and sustainability are major concerns worldwide, and the guiding principles for this global event,” says Michael Rothenberg, Co-Founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change. “We are in a world where it isn’t just one issue that needs to be addressed. A common ground is built through this global compilation of local stories, which is how we create a true narrative for discourse to inform the future.”

For more information, contact:
Menka Shivdasani
menka.shivdasani@gmail.com.
Mobile: 9820101507