The Dhaka International Poets Summit 2017 will be held on February 3 at 6pm at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital. Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Rashed Khan Menon will be present as chief guest while Shamsuzzaman Khan, director general of Bangla Academy will chair the inaugural ceremony. Kathak will organise the event and at the same time honour the invited poets with the Kathak Literary Award. Twelve poets from home and abroad have been invited to the summit which will also see the launch of eight books. Names and introduction to the invited poets follow:
Foreign Poets
Manfred Chobot, was born in 1947 at Vienna, lives as a freelance writer. Member of the Austrian writers league "IG Autorinnen Autoren", member of the Austrian authors association "Grazer Autorenversammlung", member of "Podium", member of the international authors association "Kogge". Co-founder of the "1. Wiener Lesetheater und 2. Wiener Stegreiftheater" (First Vienna Theatre of reading performances). Approximately 50 radio plays for various broadcasting stations. Participant of: "18th World Congress of Poets", Bratislava (Slovakia) 1998; "Poetry Spring", Vilnius (Lithuania) 1999; International Poetry Festival Al-Mutanabbi, Zurich 2010. Books: twelve volumes of Poetry in German; twenty six volumes of Prose; two novels, two volumes of photo books, and two books for children. Books of Poetry in English, French, Spanish, Slovak, Czech, Polish, Bulgarian, and Bangla (with Aminur Rahman). Books of Prose in Ukrainian, and Polish. Web site: www.chobot.at
Jona Burghardt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 21 December 1963. Since the mid-80s, she has lived in Europe, first in Berlin, Germany, for two years, then, since 1986, in Stuttgart, Germany. She is poet and translator specialized on poetry written in Spanish and German. She was teacher of foreign languages. Editor of a series of Korean literature (poetry, stories and novel) at the Publishing House Edition Delta in Stuttgart. She makes illustrations for numerous poetry books, some stories and novels, for a volume of Hispanic poetry, and indigenous tales from Latin America. She translates German, Austrian, Swiss, Arab and Asian authors into Spanish within the framework of the International Poetry Festivals of Medelln, Colombia, Rosario, Argentina, and Caracas, Venezuela. Curator of the exhibition of photography The other contenance of Borges by the Venezuelan artist Enrique Hernndez d'Jess in the context of the International Frankfurt Book Fair 2010 with the guest of honur Argentina and the foundation event 2012 of the Babylon Festival International Cultures & Arts, Iraq. She is Coordinator, Translator and Interpreter for the International Poetry Festival Al-Mutanabbi, Zurich, Switzerland, and, since 2012 for the Babylon Festival International Cultures & Arts, Babylon and Baghdad, Iraq. Her poems have been translated into Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, English.
Tobias Burghardt, who was born on 9 November 1961 in Essen-Werden, Germany, lived 1976-1986 in La Paz, Bolivia, Berlin, Germany, and Buenos
Aires, Argentina; since then in Stuttgart, Germany. The poet and essayist was editor of the magazine for essay writing and poetry DELTA (1987-1992) and cultural journalist for the Stuttgarter Zeitung and Neue Zrcher Zeitung. He was a juror at the global Poetry Project Anna Blume (Kurt Schwitters) of the Expo 2000 in Hanover, in 2010 at the Lyric Festival in Sankt Augustin, 2011 at the International Poetry Prize Vctor Valera Mora in Caracas, Venezuela, and in 2013 at the Internationale Poetry Competition Rhein Triptych in Sankt Augustin. Today, he is the director of the Publishing House Edition Delta. He published several volumes of poetry, among others September Soil & August Alphabet (2010), River Islands and other Districts (2005) and River Bank (2001) as well as bilingual editions in Argentina, Iraq, Japan, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and Venezuela.
Luz Mara Lpez was born in 1963 and is writer of poetry, narrative, essays, translator, editor and cultural promoter. She is Executive Director of World Festival of Poetry (WFP-IOC) and World Poetic Front Defending Women's Rights (WM); Member of the Organizing Committee of the International Book Fair in Mayagez, Puerto Rico (FILEMH); Poets on the March (Puerto Rico); President for Spain and Puerto Rico of Writers Capital Foundation; Honorary Consul for the International Parliament of Writers from Cartagena de Indias (Colombia); WM-Femin Istanbul; Ambassador at Large and Director General of World Institute for Peace (WIP) to Puerto Rico and USA. Luz Mara has been recipient of two honors: "Universal Inspirational Poet", by Pentasi B, Accra, Ghana, 2016 and Shaan-E-Adab "Glory of Literature" by Kafla Intercontinental, Udaipur, India 2016. Is the author of two poetry books: "Beneath Your Skin", written in English, and "La Hora del Vuelo" (The Flight Hour) in Spanish. Is Editor in Chief and compiler - translator of "Poetic Voices of New Century" (Spanish edition, 2016), published by Kafla Intercontinental Press, India. Many of her poems are translated to Arabic, Italian, French, Chinese and Turkish.
Mara de los ngeles Camacho Rivas from Patillas Puerto Rico was born on June 24, 1969. Angie, as everyone calls it, is teacher, poet, and storywriter. She has been awarded in prestigious literary contests in her country. In her spare time make educational workshops in nursing homes, schools and nonprofit organizations. She has also worked as a fashion designer, volunteer coordinator, host of radio and missionary. Part of her literary work has been published in the newspapers La prensa de Nicaragua, El nuevo da (Puerto Rico), the Libro verde in Mexico, Bromelias - her blog-, among others. She published the collection of poems Das de bromelias in 2011, compiled and edited the student poetry anthology Salmo de un esclavo (2014). She took part in poetry festivals: Medelln, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic.
Dr. Victor Alexandrovich Pogadaev was born in November 20, 1946 in Sakmara, Orenburg region, former USSR. After finishing school in 1964, worked as a teacher of German language in Krasnokommunarskaya school. In 1970, graduated from the Indonesian department of the Institute of Oriental Languages, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1970-1971, studied Malay language at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur) in the first group of Russian students in the framework of student exchange. In 1977-1982 and 1987-1989, worked for the Foreign Ministry USSR in Indonesia and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Russian Geographical Society, the Union of Journalists of Russia, a lifetime member of the Association of Modern Languages of Malaysia. In 2009 and 2011 was named by "International Biographical Centre" (Cambridge) among the 100 leading educationists of the year. Dr. Pogadaev is a winner of the Third All-Union competition of student research papers on social science issues (1970), "Prima Komeksindo" award for his contribution to the study of Indonesia in Russia (1998), 2 bronze medals at the University Exhibition of Research, Invention and Innovation (Malaysia, 2007), International Prize "NUMERA" for his contribution to the study of Malay language and Malay culture (2013).
Bangladeshi Poets
Poet Asad Chowdhury was born on February 11, 1943. Chowdhury was a former director at the Bangla Academy, Dhaka, and worked as an editor at the Bengali service of Deutsche Welle after his retirement. During the liberation war of Bangladesh, Chowdhury was a contributor and broadcaster of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. A few of his poetry books are Tabak Deya Pan, Bitto Nai Besat Nai, Joler Madhye Lekhajokha, Je Pare Paruk, Modhya Math Theke, Nadio Bibastro Hoi, Batash Jemon Parchito, Brishtir Sansare Ami Keo Noi etc. He was awarded the Bangla Academy Award and the National Award EkusheyPadak.
Hayat Saif is one of the major poets of Bangladesh belonging to the generation of sixties. Born in 1942, he has been a career bureaucrat since the early sixties. He retired from active service in 1999 and since then is engaged in the corporate private sector and divides his time between World Scouting and literary and artistic pursuits. His publications in Bengali include twelve collections of poems apart from two collections of essays and a huge number of poems and articles published in various periodicals. He has been translated into English and Spanish. He is generally accepted as a poet of high modernism both cerebral and lyrical in expressions and has a sharp critical talent.
Mohammad Nurul Huda (born on 30 September, 1949, Cox's Bazar) is a leading Bengali poet of international repute in today's Bangladesh with more than 100 titles published to his credit. His poetry books are above sixty in number including his 'Kabyasomogro' ('Collected Poems' in Bengali) and 'Selected Poems' (in English Translation). His poems have been translated into many international languages including English, French, German, Swedish, Russian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi etc. He has won more than fifty awards at home and abroad including the Bangla Academy Literary Award, the Poet of International Merit (ISP, USA), the Tripura State Award (India), the Mahadiganta Award (India), the President's Honour (Turkey), the Ekushey Padak etc. He also organizes a poetry festival called Darianagar Kabita Mela (Darianagar Poetry Fair) at an interval of one to two years.
Habibullah Sirajee was born on the 31st December 1948 at Faridpur, Bangladesh. Graduated from BUET in 1970. Worked in South-East Asia, Middle East and different organizations of Bangladesh. Total number of published books is more than forty; which includes poetry, novels, essays, memoirs & juvenile verse. Received the Ekushey Padak, the Bangla Academy Award. He was President, National Poetry Council, Bangladesh; Fellow, Bangla Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Poet, short story writer, lyricist and novelist, Jahidul Huq was born in 1949. His major works are: Pocket Bhorti Megh, Neel Dutabash, Tomar Homer, Parigusccha O Onnano Kabita, Balconygulo, Premke Korechi Bari etc. Honoured by the Bangla Academy Award. He worked for Bangladesh Betar (Radio) as Deputy Director General and spent valuable time in Deutsche Welle as senior editor.
Aminur Rahman was born on October 30, 1966. His work has been translated into more than twenty five languages and he has poetry books in Spanish, German, Japanese, Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Malay etc. He is a renowned Translator and Art Critic of the country. A few of his poetry books are: Hridaypore Dubshatar, Thikana Kabita Dighir Par, Bhalobasha O Onnanno Kobita, etc in Bangla and in English Compact disk of recitation, Solitary Dependence. He has translated thirteen books of poetry and edited a few poetry magazines and books. He has represented Bangladesh in the Poetry Festivals in Colombia, Malaysia, Mongolia, India, Japan, Nicaragua etc. He was awarded the Chinggish Khaan Gold Medal (2006), Heaven Horse Award (2015) in Mongolia; Numera World Award of Letters (2016) in Malaysia; Contribution Award (2016) in Taiwan.
