As part of the observance of the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, a cultural programme of songs, music, dance, recitation and film, featuring Aparna Sen, Bickram Ghosh, Kavita Krishnamurthy, L. Subramaniam, Santanu Roychowdhury, and Shama Rahman among other artists took place on Monday, 12 September 2011, at 6:30 p.m.

The Director General Irina Bokova's Speech at Celebrating Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, Pablo Neruda and Aimé Césaire defined themselves first as poets. They capitalized on art and poetry as irreplaceable vectors of mediation between humans and their environment. Reinventing humanism, it could be better to read and better to hear poetry in all of its forms, and to encounter new languages of expression that reflect peoples' dreams and aspirations, especially those of the youth.

In honour of their commitment to the transmission of a set of ideas to the essential definition of a tolerant and humanistic "living together", an international forum divided into three thematic sessions, followed by open debates, was organized on this occasion.

Key Figures: Edgar Morin, Jorge Edwards, and U.R. Ananthamurthy as well as Mireille Fanon Mendès France, Jawhar Sircar, Doudou Diène and Daniel Maximin.

Further Information:

• Detailed programme of the Forum here (PDF)
• Click here to access speeches and other interventions presenters, members of the sponsoring comittee and the Director General Irina Bokova.
  
• Read the Press Release
• Images from the Photo Gallery