Date: Sunday, 10th February
Time: 13:30 – 16:30
Venue: Elphinstone College, Seminar Room 2
Conducted by: David Raphael Israel

‘As a poetic form in the English language, serious efforts to practice the ghazal (a form with long and distinguished antecedents in Arabic, Persian and Urdu literatures) represent a fresh development among some contemporary poets.

‘I have been experimenting with ways of approaching ghazal-writing in English for many years now — and I feel these efforts are beginning to bear some fruit worth sharing. In this workshop, I will sketch a brief history of the form in English, and will draw on some of my own English-language ghazals by way of illustrating qualities and requirements and expressive possibilities of the form. As a group, we will approach a ghazal-writing exercise.’

(More about the workshop leader and details on how to register below the fold.)

David Raphael Israel is an American poet and painter who moved to India one year ago — mainly so he can pursue the study of Indian classical music. His efforts with the English ghazal have been included in the noted anthology Ravishing DisUnities — Real Ghazals in English (Agha Shahid Ali, ed., Wesleyan University Press, 2000). Other, more recent ghazals will be included in a forthcoming anthology of 100 poets-in-India, being published by Delhi Poetree in February 2008. Mr. Israel is also in the process of completing a volume of his ghazals written since relocating in India. He studies dhrupad music with the Gundecha Brothers in Bhopal. His educational background includes the study of classical Chinese poetry at the University of California at Berkeley.

To register
Please mail kalaghoda DOT workshops AT gmail DOT com with the subject line ‘Ghazal.’
In your mail, please include:
1. Your name, an email address and a phone number (preferably cellular)
2. A line or two about your previous experience in this area.
3. A line or two about what you’re looking for from this workshop.

There are only 15 seats available. Please register early!

Please inform us well in time if you need to drop out, so we can free the seat for someone else.

Please make sure that you are at the workshop venue 15 minutes before the posted start time. Please ensure that your child is carrying a pen or pencil and writing paper or a notebook.

We will inform all registered participants about any changes in schedules. But please keep an eye on this post as well for any changes.