Wales in Focus in Calicut and Mumbai
Welsh literature and culture is in focus in Calicut and Mumbai in January 2019. Organised by Literature Across Frontiers and Wales Literature Exchange, the two-city programme of literary debates, theatre, dance and film screenings includes Guest Nation Wales at the Kerala Literature Festival 2019and Cymru in the City! a micro festival of Welsh literature and culturein Mumbai staged in collaboration with Avid Learning.
The programme features leading Welsh authors Caryl Lewis, Robert Minhinnick, Horatio Clare and Llyr Gwyn Lewis, the innovative Invertigo Theatre Company with their show My Body Welsh performed by Steffan Donnelly, and Kathak-Cynghanedd, a dance and poetry performance exploring connections between two classical art forms performed by Vikram Iyengar and Sampurna Chattarji, and screenings of literature-related films from Wales. A poetry translation workshop held in Kerala brings together poets writing in Malayalam, Welsh, English, Basque and Maltese who will showcase the outcomes at the Kerala Literature Festival, continuing our tradition of close multilateral literary collaborations that create lasting creative connections for Wales as a European nation in a global context.
Literature Across Frontiers was one of the organisations participating in the successful Wales India season 2017-2018 of artistic collaborations between Wales and India with the project Poetry Connections India-Waleswhich saw ten exchange residencies and some fifty events in both countries culminate in a launch of five books of poetry in six languages. The two-year project was followed by a dance-poetry residency in Wales which lead to a “work in progress” exploring two traditional art forms – Indian kathak and Welsh cynghanedd – discovering hidden connections between them. Invertigo Theatre Company’s My Body Welsh returns to Kerala after participating in the Kerala International Theatre festival in 2018, also as part of the India-Wales season.
Literature Across Frontiers gratefully acknowledges past and present support of Arts Council Wales, Wales Arts International, British Council and Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, and thanks the Film Heritage Foundation for facilitating the film screenings in Mumbai and the national broadcaster S4C and film companies Boom, Captain Cat, Tinopolis, Ffilmiau Ffowlyn and Media Luna for permissions to screen the films. Invertigo Theatre Company acknowledge the support of Arts Council Wales, National Lottery, Welsh Government, Pontio Development Fund and London Welsh Centre towards the creation of the their show My Body Welsh.
Details of the Guest Nation Walesprogramme at the Kerala Literature Festival.
Cymru in the City! includes a reading at Kitab Khana, literary debates, theatre and dance at the National Gallery of Modern Art and film screenings at the Bombay National History Society. For more information go to the website of our partner Avid Learning.