Part of the Being Human Festival 2021

How can poetry be of practical help in the climate crisis?

How can it set the tone for the contemporary debate?

How can it inform a collective response across continents?

Join a whole host of poets, readers, and interdisciplinary thinkers as they explore these urgent questions through the work of two great, international writers: Patrick Geddes and Rabindranath Tagore. Over two complementary sessions, dive into the historic relationship between Tagore, Geddes, and the leader of the 1920s Scottish Renaissance, Hugh MacDiarmid, and explore the relevance of their legacy in contemporary ecological poetry in both Scotland and India. Each session will feature a lively combination of short talks, readings, writing activities, and creative responses.

For the duration of the Being Human Festival, you are also invited to add your contributions to a crowdsourced poem inspired by ecological prompts from Geddes and Tagore’s work. Follow @UofGArts for details!

Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies (ScoTs) and the Centre for Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Glasgow working together on these events.

Contributors include: Debarati Bandyopadhyay; Murdo Macdonald; Arunima Bhattacharya, Sourit Bhattacharya, Nigel Leask, Bashabi Fraser, Joyce Caplan, Nandini Sen, Gerda Stevenson, Jan Webb, Marc Sherland, Leela Soma, David Manderson, Alan Riach, Charles Bruce, Louisa Gairn, Peter Mackay, Monika Zsuba, Anindya Raychaudhuri, Alexandra Campbell, Gerrie Fellows, John Purser.

Free event – Register at Eventbrite

Presented as part of The Dear Green Bothy, a collaborative cultural programme from the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts showcasing creative and critical responses to climate emergency.