Day-Long Tarunner Uchchhas Poetry Festival in Chattogram, Shishir Dutta Receives Honour

The 'Tarunner Uchchhas Poetry Festival', held under the theme 'Chattogram, City of Poetry', has taken place in Chattogram with a pledge of love for poetry, commitment to art and cultural unity. The festival included poetry readings, recitation, rhyme readings, poetry songs and dedicated productions, among other performances.

Poets, reciters, rhymesters, guests and culture lovers from different parts of the country took part in the day-long festival on Friday (13 November) at Theatre Institute Chattogram, organised by Bachik Shilpo Chorcha Kendro Tarunner Uchchhas.

The organisation's president, poet Bhagyadhan Barua, said the festival's main aim was to spread poetry and recitation practice among the new generation, build a bridge between new and veteran artists, and develop healthy cultural practice. With the combined participation of poets and reciters, the day-long event turned into a lively gathering of literature and culture lovers.

In the morning, the festival was inaugurated by releasing balloons by reciter Anchal Chowdhury, poet Omer Kaiser, organiser Dr SM Sarowar Alam and theatre personality and organiser Sajol Chowdhury. Tarunner Uchchhas and Promiti Sangskritik Academy performed recitation, and Nrityamoyee Academy performed dance.

Bhagyadhan Barua, president of Tarunner Uchchhas, chaired the programme. The organisation's organising secretary Shraboni Dasgupta conducted the programme and joint general secretary Mithu Talapatra gave the welcome speech. At that time, the book 'Muktodana', published on the occasion of 20 years of Tarunner Uchchhas, was unveiled. The morning session included a children's hour, solo recitation, poetry reading and rhyme reading.

In the evening, one of the festival's main events was the presentation of the '10th Golam Mustafa Memorial Honour 2026'. This year the honour went to eminent cultural personality Shishir Dutta. Guests at the programme were eminent theatre personality Sanjib Barua, poet Omer Kaiser and Chattogram Group Theatre Forum president Shuvra Biswas. The guests presented the honour souvenir, a book, an uttoriyo and the honour's monetary value. Sejunti De read out Shishir Dutta's life sketch.

Invited artists who performed recitation at the festival included Faruk Taher, Pranab Chowdhury, Rekha Naznin, Bankusum Barua, Masrur Hossain, Iqbal Hossain Jewel, Mohammad Selim Bhuiyan, Abdullah Faruk Robi, Supriya Chowdhury, Shamima Yasmin, Niharika Pal, Ananya Chowdhury, Snigdha Barua, Oishi Pal, Zulkar Raihan Zakaria, Mahfuza Haque Snigdha and Sajeda Usfat Rahman Samanta, along with Dhaka invitees Nazmul Ahsan, Masum Azizul Basar and Mehedi Hasan Akash, and Sylhet invitee Sukanta Gupta.

Rhymesters Jasim Mehbub, Bipul Barua, Utpal Kanti Barua, Apu Barua, Liton Kumar Chowdhury, Abul Kalam Belal, Amit Barua and Akhtarul Islam took part in rhyme reading. Poets who read poetry included Hosain Kabir, Bijan Majumdar, Jinnah Chowdhury, Khaled Hamidi, Rizwan Mahmud, Hafiz Rashid Khan, Monirul Manir, Nazimuddin Shyamal, Anupama Aparajita, Ali Prayas, Rimjhim Ahmed, Aziz Kajol, Dilip Kirtunia, Akhtari Islam and Pulak Pal.

The festival featured productions dedicated to two late poets. In the first dedicated production, Mousumi De, Chiku Rani Shil, Tonwi Ghosh Nodi, Purnima Lala, Pinki Kar, Pragya Laboni Chowdhury, Soumen Das, Safa Marwa, Md Mufrat Hossain, Bhuban Das Troyi, Karishma Kabir Oishi and Payel Biswas recited poems by poet Asad Chowdhury. In the second, Eva Chowdhury, Arpita Dasgupta, Arman Hafiz, Hiranmoy Barua, Debdwip Kanti Das, Pintu Kanti Das, Arundhuti Chowdhury, Dipa Sarkar, Tuli Pal and Susmita Debnath Suchi recited poems by poet Bhaskar Chowdhury.

The cultural performances included poetry songs and group recitation. Al Tushi and Anika Chowdhury performed poetry songs. Members of the adult and children's divisions of Tarunner Uchchhas performed three new group recitations titled 'Khullo Jadur Jhuli', 'Pollir Gaan' and 'Bangladesh'. Tarunner Uchchhas vice-presidents Rubel Chowdhury and Probir Mahajan and cultural worker Forkan Rasel gave greetings speeches.