“Malika Booker” visits Symbiosis School For Liberal Arts Pune

Symbiosis School For Liberal Art Pune:

  • 05:11:2014

Think. Evolve. Excel… With this vision at heart SSLA never fails to make its students avail any opportunity that knocks its door. And this time it was the interaction with one of the famous figures of the literary world, Malika Booker.

Booker, by profession a writer, is also known for her skills as spoken-word and multi-disciplinary artist. She has made several appearances on the world platform and was one of the touring poets with Bittersweets in 1999 – 2000. She featured in a spoken word project, Kin at the Barbican in 2004, a show that had an appealing mix of words, music and visuals. She also co-produced a poetry film to commemorate the Royal Festival Hall’s 50th Birthday Celebrations in Spring 2001. Her first musical play was commissioned by NITRO called the Catwalk earning her success in the United Kingdom.

With an impressive background in poetry and spoken words Booker was invited by British Council to visit India and address Indian students and budding writers. A workshop was organised, in collaboration with Liberal Arts, on the 3rd of November, 2011 in their main campus, in Pune.

Photo via Twitter
Photo via Twitter

The workshop began with Ted Hodgkinson, fellow member of the British Council at UK, introducing Booker to the audience. Booker took over by reading out to her audience, some of her poems from her recent publication ‘Pepper Seeds’. The diverse range of poems that she narrated revolved around her daily interactions with people and the world. Her ‘mother’ remained at heart of most of her poems. After her expressive communication, it was time for some interactive session. The audience were divided into groups and paired up. They were asked to pick up any line from a book or novel of their choice and write it down. These lines were asked to be narrated in, first a flat tone, and then in four different ways; in a voice of controlled-anger, in whispers, in explosive anger and as a newsreader. The activity followed the participants’ reflection on it. She explained how it was important to pair up a particular arrangement of words with the right tone. Right tone, she said, is the best fitting tone of poetry reading that brings out the true essence of any poem.  She then resumed the activity by asking the groups to recite the same lines against a certain scenario. With this she winded up the workshop discussing the importance of context behind expression of any line.

The students were thoroughly impressed with the workshop. The poems were truly amazing evoking the beauty of regular routines. “Her poems raised the ordinary to extraordinary!”, exclaimed Amrita Sridhar, a fourth year student at Liberal Arts. “Writing is the best way to engage in imagination. It creates magic to change the world”, Booker said.

The poetry club at SSLA bid her a farewell by presenting to her the posters of her poems that they prepared. She parted with teary eyes and smiling face.

[author image=”http://www.aapkatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shreya-Jakhmola.jpg” ]I am Shreya Jakhmola student at Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts, Pune. With a keen interest in social issues, I wish to serve my country for its better and prosperous future. [/author]

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