A collaboration between tpet, Zilka Joseph and pianist, Veena Kulkarni lends itself to a unique experience for the Rasa Festival. The poetry section of the festival will also feature a reading by Sumita Chakraborty.
Zilka Joseph was born in Mumbai and grew up in Kolkata, India. She came to the US in 1997. She is the author of two chapbooks, Lands I Live In and What Dread, and a collection titled Sharp Blue Search of Flame. Her new chapbook Sparrows and Dust will be published this fall. Her work reflects the complexities of life as an immigrant, issues of displacement, racism, women’s issues, death and loss. She has a deep love for and knowledge of Nature and wildlife, which are also recurrent themes in her poems. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she teaches creative writing and poetry, edits manuscripts, and mentors writers in the community. She is dedicated to lifting up every writer/student she works with and aims to create a unique and generous community wherever she lives and teaches.
Sumita Chakraborty is a poet, essayist, and scholar. She is Helen Zell Visiting Professor in Poetry at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, where she teaches in literary studies and creative writing. Previously, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, at Emory University. Her first scholarly book, tentatively titled Grave Danger: Death, Ethics, and Poetics in the Anthropocene, is in progress. Her debut collection of poetry, Arrow, was released in September 2020 with Alice James Books in the United States and Carcanet Press in the United Kingdom.
Also based in Ann Arbor, Veena Kulkarni-Rankin was born and raised in the US Midwest and began her piano studies at the age of 5. A western classical pianist, she won many youth competitions, studied at Indiana University, and then earned a doctorate in Piano Pedagogy & Performance at the University of Michigan. Finding great fulfillment in teaching, she is currently the Lead Instructor at Faber Piano Institute Over the years as a lover of all types of music, Veena has branched off into other styles of playing, many that fuse improvisation with composed-out music. Most notable is her partnership with baritone Jean Bernard as Duo 1717, whose concerts feature folk and art music, storytelling, and social justice issues from the United States, Haiti, South America, the Philippines, India, European cultures, and beyond. A second-generation American, Veena loves connecting with and learning more about her Filipino and Indian roots. And if you are a fellow musician, she wants to sit down with you, start playing, and see what happens!
Upcoming Events:
City of Hibiscus Eyes
Event date: Saturday, October 3,2020 USA: 11 am EST / India: 8:30 pm IST
When Veena first read Zilka’s book Sharp Blue Search of Flame she was inspired by poems that were musical or rhythmic in nature and after a discussion, they decided that the poem “City of Hibiscus Eyes” would be perfect for their experiment. The poem is a pantoum, a form that originated in Malaysia, and it has a repetitive structure. Moreover, there is a haunting and lyrical quality to this particular poem that attracted Veena. Her subsequent improvisation is a stunning combination of eastern and western classical music, which is inspired by Raag Malkauns. Veena quotes a classic Hindi film song, Jaane Bahaar Husn Tera Bemisaal Hai (1963), and Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise.
We present a reading of the poem by Zilka with Veena’s composition playing in the background, and then Veena performing her piece.
A Reading by Sumita Chakraborty
Event date: Sunday, October 18,2020 USA: 11 am EST / India: 8:30 pm IST
A reading from her book, Arrow.
A Reading by Zilka Joseph
Event date: Saturday, October 24,2020 USA: 11 am EST / India: 8:30 pm IST
Zilka will read from her book of poems, Sharp Blue Search of Flame (Wayne State University Press), where she will read particular poems dedicated to her late mother.
