Poets in Bangladesh celebrate World Festival of Poetry denouncing war

With a strong anti-war message poets across the globe celebrated a unique ‘World Festival of Poetry’ (WFP) on June 21 and 22. Renowned and budding poets in Dhaka joined hands with the world poetic fraternity in as many as 159 other countries on Saturday in this imitative with the slogan – No War, Hug Peace. Through these poetry recital events, the rhymesters sent a bold statement that the world doesn’t want to see breaking of any more wars as the mankind has seen enough of bloodsheds and manslaughters in the name of too many wars already. 

From Dhaka to Midnapore to Kolkata to Istanbul to cities in Latin America, Afro-Asia, scores of poets converged in each of the poetry recital events to utter self-composed verses denouncing war and hatred, and promoting the cause of lasting peace.   

The World Festival of Poetry (WFP) has been represented in more than 160 countries. In India the poetic festivity was celebrated nearly 20 different places including four in West Bengal – Midnapore, Kolkata, Howrah and Balurghat on Friday (June 21). And in Bangladesh, Edward M Kennedy Center and poetry organization Kathak jointly organized the festival event in the city’s EMK Center with the slogan – ‘No War-Hug Peace. For A World without War.’

World Festival of Poetry’s continental director and one of Bangladesh’s internationally acclaimed poet Aminur Rahman conducted the session with poet Mohammad Nurul Huda presiding over the poetry recital session. The participating poets include, among others, Al Mujahidi, Tarik Sujat, Jahangir Firoz, Shihab Shariar, Haikal Hashmi, Mahmud Hafiz, Kamruzzaman, Maksudul Ahsan, Shakib Lohani, Reaz Ahmad, Ahmed Tahsin Shams, Ayesha S Chowdhury, Jahanara Akhter, Dilruba Haider, Mir Akram, Shaila Kabir, Laila Afroze, and Jharna Rahman.