South Indian poets’ meet to be dedicated to Gauri Lankesh

Thiruvananthapuram: Dakshina, the three-day meet of poets from

south Indian

states being organized by

Ayyappa Paniker Foundation

will be inaugurated by noted Hindi poet and critic Ashok Vajpeyi on Tuesday.

“The meet will be dedicated to Gauri Lankesh and other writers who got killed in India in a similar fashion,” said the foundation president and poet K Satchidanandan here on Monday.

“Participation of Vajpeyi, a great poet, critic, and orator, is also relevant in the contemporary scenario, which calls for a strong resistance against such assaults on free speech,” he pointed out.

The poetry fest, in which several renowned and upcoming poets from south India will take part, has been aptly titled ‘Dakshina’, which is also meant as an ‘offering’ (in its very literal sense) to Ayyappa Paniker, Satchidanandan said.

The inaugural ceremony at 6 pm on Tuesday will be chaired by the Foundation president and will be attended by foundation vice-president T P Sreenivasan and poet Balachandran Chullikkadu.

The inauguration will be followed by a recital of poems by one poet from each language including Sugathakumari, K Sivareddy, Manjunatha V M, Rajathi Salma and Sridala Swami, and the screening of a documentary on Attoor Ravi Varma.

The morning session on Wednesday includes a panel discussion on ‘South Indian Poetry-The New Generation’, being chaired by K G Sankara Pillai and a reading session by poets including Kutty Revathy, Kilimanoor Madhu, Prathibha Nandakumar, Kureepuzha Sreekumar and P Raman.

The first day will also witness the release of a compilation of essays by Ayyappa Paniker translated into English, a panel discussion on ‘Paniker as an academic and critic’ and a session on ‘Women’s poetry in South India’.

The concluding day (September 21) will have a session on ‘Poetry as Witness’, recitals by young poets selected from poetry camps organized in all districts across the state ahead of the event and screening of prize-winning short films inspired by Ayyappa Paniker’s works.

The event will be held at VJT Hall.