Making hay while sun shines

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Literary legends, musicians and film-makers took centre stage on the Kanakakkunnu Palace premises on Thursday as the famed Hay Festival made its return to the state capital.  The Alchemist Hay Festival inauguration witnessed two doyens of Malayalam literature engaging themselves and the audience with their conversations and takes on the literary arena in the state. Novelist M Mukundan, introducing M T Vasudevan Nair as a living legend in realm of Malayalam literature, elaborated on how he was influenced by MT’s writing. Mukundan cited books such as ‘Manju’ (The mist) and ‘Aal koottathil thaniye’ (All alone in a crowd) that were indeed unique.Cultural Affairs Minister K C Joseph and Shashi Tharoor MP also spoke at the inaugural ceremony.The Band Stand venue at the Hay Festival was all poetic when eight poets came together hand-in-hand to form a circle, reciting poetry in their respective languages. Poets from different regions were enthusiastic about introducing each other and they shared experiences they had over the past few days prior to the event at the famed Kovalam Beach.They shared how they drew inspiration from folklores, other poets and writers. They were not shy in translating and reading out each other’s poems in their own languages.Robert Minhinnick was introduced by K Satchidanandan. A novelist, essayist, and environmentalist, Minhinnick also wrote a spontaneous poem in response to Satchidanandan’s ‘Stammer’ (Vikku), which he read out at the session. He also read out his ‘Opera in Baghdad’ as part of the conclave. Twm Morys, introduced by Anamika, was fun loving and vibrant, carrying his guitar to spice up his songs. He also read out the folklore poems he wrote in the Welsh language.Eurig Salisbury, a young Welsh poet, shared his interest in mythology, fantasy and urban poetry with Sampurna Chatterji. His poems were described as contemporary takes on love and mythologies.Sian Melangell Dafydd also made her presence felt, by reading out verses from her works. Apart from being a poet, she is also a historian, editor, and rock climber too. Anitha Thampi, a poet from Kerala, read out her poems, including ‘Muttamadikumpol’ (Sweeping the front yard). She also translated and recited her fellow Welsh poet Sian Melangell’s ‘Flute.’ Satchidanandan, introduced by Minhinnick, said he experienced different ways of translating poetry in the days he spent with fellow poets. He also recited the Malayalam and English versions of his poem ‘Stammer’ (Vikku). He also translated 14 poems of Twm Morys and recited his own work titled ‘2’. He concluded the session reciting his poem ‘Kozhipanthal’, followed by a song by Twm Morys.

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