The Toronto Bengali community will be hosting a literary festival on Saturday, July 20, at St. Paul’s United Church, 200 McIntosh St., from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The event features honoured Bengali-originated authors now in Canada, writing in English or Bengali or both. Authors come from the Toronto area of course, but also from Vancouver, Windsor, Montreal, Halifax, and elsewhere. In addition to the Bengali authors, three former Toronto Poet Laureates will attend as honoured guests: myself, Anne Michaels and George Elliott Clarke.
I will take part in a a short onstage interview with Momo Qazi, the translator of myselected poems, The Sparrow, in Bengali, followed by a reading of my poem “Cleanliness,” first in English by myself, and then in Bengali by Qazi.
UPDATE
Here are a few images from a very successful event:
