Seeking the Beloved- In the spirit of Shah Abdul Latif

Gyaan Adab cordially invites you to a charm-filled evening of interaction, book reading and screening, celebrating the genius of Shah Abdul Latif, the 16th century Sufi poet.

About the book: Shah Abdul Latif:  Seeking the Beloved is translated by Anju Makhija and Hari Dilgir.  It is the first comprehensive English translation in India of Shah-Jo-Risalo, one of the greatest Sindhi works of the Sufi poet.  It was awarded the Sahitya Akademi English Translation Prize (’11). Latif’s poetry is deeply rooted in the human experience of searching for the self– a self that is one with the nirakaar, the omnipresent, centered within yet diffused as attar.

The sufis, as is known, were great integrators and Latif’s poetry draws freely from both Islamic and Vedantic traditions. Latif’s unique treatment and allegorical interpretations of common folk tales, like Sasui-Punhoon, are truly relevant in today’s atmosphere of religious strife. This volume includes an introduction by the renowned scholar, Padmashree Dr Motilal Jotwani.

About the film: So Heddan So Hoddan  (Like Here, Like There) is  a film by Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar. The film has won several awards from the Indian Documentary Producers Association (’10).  It also won the best film award at the International Folk Music Film Festival. (’12). The programme will feature selected sections of the  52 minutes film.

Anju Makhija is a poet, playwright, translator and columnist. She has an M.A in Communications from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.  Her publications include poetry collections, Pickling Season and View from the Web and The Last Train and other plays. As editor – several anthologies including Freedom & Fissures, We Speak in Changing Languages and  a 3-volume series of Indo English plays.

Makhija’s awards include: The All India Poetry Competition (’94); the BBC World Poetry Prize (‘02); the Sahitya Akademi English Translation Prize (‘11). She is also the recipient of the Charles Wallace Trust, British Council award. Makhija is actively involved in the literary milieu and was on the English Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi for 5 years. Presently, she writes a column for Confluence Magazine, London.

(Late) Hari Dilgir was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award. An eminent Sindhi poet and scholar, he wrote/edited many books of poetry and received several literary awards such as the Gujarat Sahitya Akademy Award, Gaurav Puruskar, the Priyadarshini Prize and the Indusind Award for lifetime contribution to the Sindhi language.  He lived in Kutch after the Partition.