Mussoorie Writers: Arvind Mehrotra reads from his translation of SONGS OF KABIR
The Chakkar will occasionally feature special videos made for Mussoorie Writers with permission on our website. Here is ‘Book Bytes’, featuring Arvind Mehrotra reading from his 2011 translation of Songs of Kabir.
“Friend, You had one life, And you blew it.”
Arvind Mehrotra is an Indian poet, anthologist, literary critic, and translator, who has published six collections of poetry in English and two of translation. Mehrotra has translated over 200 literary works from ancient Prakrit language, and from Hindi, Bengali, and Gujarati. In this short ‘Book Bytes’ clip, Mehrotra reads from his 2011 translation of Songs of Kabir, the collection of poetry by 15th century poet Kabir that was first published in 1915. Additionally, Mehrotra also discusses the 40-year period of finishing this translation and why he loves Kabir in his form of the ‘angry young man’.
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Mussoorie Writers was founded in 2005 with the objective of celebrating Mussoorie’s literary heritage and encouraging an interest in books and natural history. In collaboration with the Hanifl Centre for Outdoor and Environmental Study at Woodstock School, Mussoorie Writers is committed to focusing attention on the Himalayas, as a source of inspiration and inquiry, for authors and readers from India and abroad. Check out MussoorieWriters.com.
