GUWAHATI:
Guwahati-based poet Madhu Raghavendra, who was a writer-in-resident at the international writing programme for Spring 2022 at the University of Iowa, was invited to participate along with 80 other delegates for the Emergency Congress of Writers held at the United Nations headquarters on May 13.
The meeting was convened by PEN America, a non-for-profit organisation that works to defend and celebrate free expression, and moderated by president Ayad Akhtar and CEO Suzanne Nossel.
The session held at the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations focused on two pressing questions – concentrated focus amid all of the cascading crises, including the epidemic of distraction and diffusion of effort and the role of the writer in responding to the current crises.
During the open dialogue, Madhu spoke on the need for enriching contemporary Indian literature by being inclusive of literature created by the Adivasi/indigenous, minority, and Dalit writers and not just restricted to popular fiction. He asserted his point by reading his poem What Scares You the Most? which speaks about including all forms of voices for the truth to be heard across the world.
Notably, the Emergency World Voices Congress of Writers is a modern iteration of a historic PEN America-led conference that was held at the 1939 World’s Fair. The full session is available on UN Web TV.