Mangalore: Renowned poet Ashok Vajpeyi to deliver endowment lecture on July 13
Media Release
Mangalore, Jun 18: The annual James and Shobha Mendonca Endowment lecture on poetry, hosted by Kavita Trust, will be held on Saturday, July 13 at 6 pm. Well known Hindi poet, critic, and cultural activist Ashok Vajpeyi will grace the occasion and deliver the lecture.
The lecture will be held at SDM College of Business Management auditorium, in association with SDM PG Centre for Management Studies and will be in both English and Hindi.
The James and Shobha Mendonca Endowment Lecture on Poetry is an annual feature and one of the important programmes organised by the Kavita Trust. The programme is in its second year. To better understand poetry by distinguished poets is the objective of this lecture. In 2012, well-known Hindi, Urdu poet Gulzar delivered this lecture, much to the acclaim of the audience.
About Ashok Vajpeyi
Ashok Vajpeyi, a Hindi poet-critic, translator, editor and culture-activist, is a major cultural figure of India. With more than 13 books of poetry, 10 of criticism in Hindi and 4 books on art in English to his credit, he is widely recognised as an outstanding promoter of culture and an innovative institution-builder. Over the years he has worked tirelessly to enhance the mutual awareness and interaction between Indian and foreign cultures. A frequent figure at some of the major conferences, seminars and poetry-festivals, he has raised his voice for the autonomy of literature and arts as against contemporary tyrannies of ideologies, markets and fundamentalism. As editor of many prestigious journals he has done much to promote critical awareness of contemporary and classical arts and young talent in poetry and criticism. As an organiser he has more than a thousands events to his credit relating to literature, music, dances, theatre, visual arts, folk and tribal arts, cinema etc. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Dayawati Kavi Shekhar Samman, Kabir Samman and awarded DLit (honoris causa) by the Central University of Hyderabad.
He has written two voluminous books on the Paris-based Indian master Sayed Haider Raza, one on 7 contemporary Indian abstract painters, and a book on Hindustani classical music. He set up the renowned multi-arts centre Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal; has been the first vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University (set up by Govt of India). For more than a year he doubled up as the director general of the National Museum, New Delhi, and vice-chairman National Museum of Man, Bhopal. Until recently he was the chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, New Delhi. Ashok Vajpeyi had organized a week-long World Poetry Festival in in 1989 at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal in which 27 foreign poets and 6 Indian poets participated.
A prominent public intellectual of India, he has been a creative global-trotter and visited Europe many times to attend conferences, deliver lectures and give readings. Has been a writer in-residence at Jamia Millia Islamia University and a fellow of K K Birla Foundation. He lives in Delhi after retiring from civil service. He has been decorated by the President of Republic of Poland by the outstanding national award ‘The Officer’s Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland’ and the French Govt. by the award of ‘Officier De L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres’.
He is presently the executive trustee of The Raza Foundation, New Delhi.
Those interested in participating and reserving their seats please contact the organiser for passes.
Contact: 9980136297 or email: kavitatrust@gmail.com
To register Click Here