International poetry celebration tonight

This year in honor of National Poetry Month, the San Marcos Public Library is hosting “Where Are You From?” – a celebration of international poetry – on April 11 from 7 to 8 p.m.

Local bilingual readers and poets will read their own poems or a favorite poem from their culture of origin or culture and language with which they have a connection, along with their English translations.

The topic is “Where are you from?” This is a question immigrants or people of color often face even after living in the United States for many years. Local poet and artist Debangana Banerjee organized the event in hopes of giving poets and poetry from all over the world a platform. 

“I am trying my best to raise the voice of international poetry in our lovely small town,” Banerjee said. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for the town to experience the richness of other countries’ literature and, feel the culture and listen to the sound of many languages.”

Arabic, Bengali, Chamorro, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Luo, Mandarin, Panjabi, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili and Spanish poetry will be read aloud in their original language by 16 readers.

Michael Hannon, a library National Poetry Month organizer, said there is a significance to hearing poetry read in its native language – the cadence, the meter and meaning all take the form they were meant to when originally composed, something that can be missing from a translation, even a really good one.  

“There’s a lot of poetry that the actual sound of the word is crucial to the meaning, and a really good translation may capture a tiny piece of that, but it will never come close to what it is in the original language,” Hannon said.

This is the first international poetry reading to happen at the San Marcos Public Library in connection with National Poetry Month. This event is open and free to the public. For more information call the library at 512-393-8200.