Antananarivo: The 14th edition of the Embassy of India Antananarivo’s literary event LaLitTanà brought together poets from the Indian Ocean region. Its theme was ‘Ocean’ and poets from the Indian Ocean countries namely Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Reunion (France), India , Kenya, Comoros, Maldives, Zanzibar, and Seychelles read their poems on this occasion. The event was held online on January 28, 2022.
Malagasy poet Andréa Lalatiana known with her pen name ‘Antigone’ opened the reading with her two poems – ”It arrived suddenly, like an unexpected guest without knocking at the door /he took everything with him /the brownish ocean, the cyclone.”
Sukrita Paul Kumar, a poet, born and raised in Kenya recounted a poem about her journey from Mombasa to Bombay in a ship.
Other poets who read at the event included Indran Amirthanayagam from Sri Lanka, Umar Timol from Mauritius, Ibrahim Waheed “Ogaru”, from the Maldives, Malavika Vyawahare from Reunion (France), Sonnet Mondal from India, Packiyanathan Ahilan from Sri Lanka, Nassor Hilal Kharusi from Zanzibar.
Host poet-diplomat Abhay K. closed the session by reading the poems of Mab Elhad, a poet from Comoros and Linda Hoareau from the Seychelles and his own poem ‘Ocean’ and the first few stanzas of his book-length poem ‘Monsoon’.
– global bihari bureau
