ITANAGAR, 1 Jun: Guwahati based poet Madhu Raghavendra, who was a writer-in-resident at the International Writing Program for Spring 2022 at the University of Iowa, was invited to participate along with 80 writer-delegates for a ‘historic emergency congress of writers’ at the United Nations Headquarters recently.
The meeting was convened by PEN America, and moderated by PEN president Ayad Akhtar and PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel.
During the open dialogue, Madhu spoke on the need for enriching contemporary Indian literature by being inclusive towards literature created by the adivasi/indigenous, minority, and dalit writers and not just restrict to popular fiction. He asserted his point by reading his poem ‘What Scares You the Most?’ that speaks about including all forms of voices for truth to be heard across the world. The full session is available on the UN Web TV.
