Member Since: 18/10/2006
Band Website: http://www.universeofpoetry.org/newmedia.shtml
Band Members: At least one poet representing every nation (regardless of territory).
Influences:* * * * *UniVerse of Free Expression: A Festival & Celebration of International Poetry & Musicfeaturing Ofelia Zepeda, Fady Joudah, Kwame Dawes, and Valzhyna Mort [http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=3233
6]* * * * *UniVerse of Poetry readings and showcases commend individuals who demonstrate a consistent dedication and integrity of vision, humanity, innovation and artistry in their writing, increasing the dialogue and significance of poetry within a greater society, nationally and internationally.* * * * *In celebration of this purpose, this historic event, hosted in collaboration with Chicago Public Radio, features:* * * * *Ofelia Zepeda - an enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona, who grew up in a rural cotton farming community near the reservation. The first of her family to attend school, she received her Master's degree and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Arizona where she is now Regent’s Professor. Ofelia published the first written grammar of the Tohono O’odham language and preserves this language in many of her poems, which are collected in several award-winning books, including, Where Clouds Are Formed, Jewed ‘I hoi/ Earth Movements and Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert.* * * * *Fady Joudah - an award-winning poet, translator and physician. His first book, The Earth in the Attic, won the 2008 Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, and his translations of three recent volumes of poetry by his mentor, revered Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, are collected in The Butterfly’s Burden, which won the prestigious Banipal Translation Prize. Born in Austin, TX, in a Palestinian refugee home, Fady is a physician of internal medicine and a field member of Doctors Without Borders. This experience informs many of his poems, giving them rare insights into the human condition.* * * * *Kwame Dawes - first and foremost a poet, but also a musician, lyricist and playwrite; a Reggae scholar; author of two novels, distinguished Poet in Residence and executive Director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative and programming director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, and author of 13 books of poetry. Kwame was born in Ghana and spent most of his childhood and early adult life in Jamaica. In 2007, he was funded by the Pulitzer Center to return to Jamaica to write about the AIDS crisis there. He honors the people and caregivers battling the disease with a series of poems available at www.livehopelove.com...* * * * *Valzhyna Mort - born in Minsk, Belarus, made her American debut in 2008 with the poetry collection, Factory of Tears, which was published by Copper Canyon Press. Mort received the Crystal of Vilenica award in Slovenia in 2005 and the Burda Poetry Prize in Germany in 2008. She writes of her home country and language, and explores familial and existential themes with a refreshing directness and intensity that allow her to pivot swiftly from the concrete to the surreal, from the personal to the shared human experience.* * * * *With a special screening and live scoring of an excerpt of “War Rug,†a film and poem by Francesco Levato with an original score by Richard Fammeree.* * * * *The event also included a remembrance of Nadia Anjoman, a young Afghani poet and mother who was murdered in 2005 for having published her poetry. Nadia Anjoman represents Afghanistan on UniVerse of Poetry. She wrote tirelessly, studied literature secretly, and published her first book, The Smokey Flower, while living under Taliban rule when she was 25 years old. For this act of courage, she was beaten to death.* * * * *Hosted by Richard Fammerée, poet and founding director of UniVerse of Poetry, and Rachel Jamison Webster, celebrated poet, artist-in-residence at Northwestern University, and the editor-in-chief of UniVerse of Poetry.* * * * *Recorded Friday, February 13, 2009 at Chicago Center for the Performing Arts...* * * * *Tenzin Tsundue is a restless young Tibetan, who after graduating from Madras, South India, braved snowstorms and treacherous mountains, broke all rules and restrictions, crossed the Himalayas on foot and went into forbidden Tibet.
The purpose?
To see the situation of his country under Chinese occupation for himself, and find out if he could lend a hand or two in the freedom struggle.
He was arrested by the Chinese border police, and after cooling his feet in prison in Lhasa for three months, was finally pushed back to India.
Born to a Tibetan refugee family who laboured on India's border roads around Manali, North India, during the chaotic era of Tibetan refugee resettlement in the early seventies. Tenzin Tsundue is a writer-activist, a rare blend in the Tibetan community in exile.
When it Rains in Dharamsala
(English version)
When it rains in Dharamsala
raindrops wear boxing gloves,
thousands of them
come crashing down
and beat my room.
Under its tin roof
my room cries from inside
and wets my bed, my papers.
Sometimes the clever rain comes
from behind my room,
the treacherous walls lift
their heels and allow
a small flood into my room.
I sit on my island-nation bed
and watch my country in flood,
notes on freedom,
memoirs of my prison days,
letters from college friends,
crumbs of bread
and Maggi noodles
rise sprightly to the surface
like a sudden recovery
of a forgotten memory.
Three months of torture,
monsoon in the needle-leafed pines,
Himalaya rinsed clean
glistening in the evening sun.
Until the rain calms down
and stops beating my room,
I need to console my tin roof
who has been on duty
from the British Raj.
This room has sheltered
many homeless people,
now captured by mongooses
and mice, lizards and spiders,
and partly rented by me.
A rented room for home
is a humbling existence.
My Kashmiri landlady
at eighty cannot return home.
We often compete for beauty:
Kashmir or Tibet.
Every evening,
I return to my rented room;
but I am not going to die this way.
There has got to be
some way out of here.
I cannot cry like my room.
I have cried enough
in prisons and
in small moments of despair.
There has got to be
some way out of here.
I cannot cry;
my room is wet enough.
..* * * * *Naomi Shihab Nye:
Your Weight, at Birth
Watching the Palestinian men
emerge from the Church of the Nativity,
I considered birth:
being born into light again
after so many cramped weeks inside,
born into air & space,
how we wish the best for one another
when someone
is being born, born into deportation & exile,
born, & banished.
Across the street,
their women were wailing.
They could not greet or hug them.
The men were shuffled onto buses
to be sent away.
On the white & dusty street of Bethlehem,
where so many travelers have stood
holding candles,
wrapped in song,
the prisoner men,
in their own town.
An American TV announcer's voice
sounded excited
to be present at the births -
over & over again
he hailed the table of sandwiches
& bottled water
provided by Israeli soldiers
who actually looked perplexed
whenever the camera came in close.
One is born to wear a helmet,
carry large artillery.
One is born to be thin,
to wear raggedy clothes
& be shot in the leg.
And some are born
to wonder, wonder, wonder.
..* * * * *
Sounds Like:Poets by Nation
Afghanistan
is represented by beloved poet Nadia Anjuman, who was murdered in 2005 after publishing her book.
Assiniboine-Sioux
Represented by M.L. Smoker.
Australia
Recognized by the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature as an innovative artist, poet Christopher Kelen represents Australia.
Basque
Represented by Kirmen Uribe.
Bhutan
His Holiness Ngawang Tensin, revered poet and teacher of the Drukpa Kagyu Lineage of Buddhism, represents the nation of Bhutan.
Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia
Represented by Mario Susko.
Bulgaria
Heroic refugee poet Michaella Mintchef represents Bulgaria.
China
Author of 6 books and more than 300 published poems, essays and academic papers, Li Sen represents China.
China
Global citizen and nationally treasured poet, Boris Maruna represents Croatia.
Eritrea
Represented by Paulos Netabay.
Eritrea
Represented by Saba Kidane.
France
Brilliant and reserved, Annie Salager handsomely represents France.
Friesland
Represented by Tsjêbbe Hettinga.
Haiti
UniVerse honors Davertige, a pioneer of Haitian arts and poetry in particular.
Haiti
Translated into Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Arabic, poet and international activist Maggy De Coster represents Haiti.
India
Represented by Meena Alexander.
Ireland
Irish language poet Michael Davitt dedicated his life to the renaissance of gaeltacht. He is translated by award-winning poet Paul Muldoon.
Ireland
Represented by Eavan Boland.
Israel
Represented by Agi Mishol.
Israel
Awarded by his Prime Minister, Iraqi-born poet Ronny Someck represents Israel. His reading is accompanied by guitarist Elliot Sharp.
Italy
Internationally celebrated poet Luciano Urbe represents Italy. An English translation of his poem is read by his friend and superlative colleague Mark Strand.
Jamaica / Ghana
Represented by Kwame Dawes.
Kurdistan
Represented by Farhad Shakely.
Latvia
Represented by Amanda Aizpuriete.
Latvia
Represented by Inara Cedrins.
Mexico
Represented by Coral Brancho.
Mvskoke/Creek
Represented by Joy Harjo.
Nicaragua
Represented by Daisy Zamora.
Nigeria
Represented by Ben Okri.
Osage
Recently honored by the Library of Congress, Elise Paschen, daughter of prima ballerina Maria Tallchief, represents the Osage Nation.
Palestine
Palestinian poet and humanist, Ibtisam Barakat represents her nation with grace and wisdom.
Palestine
Guggenheim fellow, internationally acclaimed poet, essayist and teacher, Naomi Shihab Nye represents Palestine.
Palestine
One of the most admired Arab poets of today, Mahmoud Darwish represents Palestine.
Palestine
Represented by Fady Joudah.
Romania
Represented by Stella Vinitchi Radulescu.
Saudi Arabia
Represented by Nimah Ismail Nawwab.
Senegal
Laureate of the Grand Prize of the Academie Francaise, member of the World Academy of Poetry, Amadou Lamine Sall represents Senegal.
South Africa
Poet and international activist who served a sentence of hard labor beside Nelson Mandela, Dennis Brutus represents South Africa.
Spokane/Coeur d'Alene
Author of 17 books and awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, renaissance artist Sherman Alexie represents Spokane/Coeur d'Alene.
Sudan
Represented by Onam Liduba.
Sweden
Represented by Clara Diesen.
Tibet
Represented by Tenzin Tsundue.
Turkey
UniVerse celebrates the ecstatic, mystical poetry of Seyid Imadeddin Nesimi who wrote in 15th century Turkey. Nesimi is translated and interpreted by contemporary troubadour Latif Bolat.
Ukraine
Represented by Ilya Kaminsky.
United States
Represented by Yusef Komunyakaa.
United States
Represented by Li-Young Lee.
United States
Represented by W.S. Merwin.
United States
Represented by Adrienne Rich.
United States
Represented by Meghan O'Rourke.
Wales
Representing Wales, Mererid Hopwood is the first woman to have won the prestigious Chair of the National Eistedfodd in 2001.
Record Label: UniVerse Records
Type of Label: Indie