Zata Banks FRSA: Keynote Speaker at House of Lords Poetry Celebration, 22 June 2016

I am honoured to have been invited to present the keynote talk at The House of Lords on Wednesday 22 June 2016. The topic of my keynote will be “the creative opportunities at the intersections of poetry and film”. The event will be hosted by Yogesh Patel and The Lord Parekh. Full details below.

House of Lords Poetry Celebration, 22 June 2016

Word Masala Award-Winning Poets 2015-2016, hosted by Yogesh Patel and The Lord Parekh 

Introduction: Yogesh Patel, editor-director of Word Masala Foundation and Skylark Publications UK

Welcome: The Lord Parekh

Inauguration: The Rt Hon the Lord Dholakia OBE DL

Keynote Speaker: Zata Banks FRSA, director of PoetryFilm, the research art project and screening series founded in 2002: 

“The creative opportunities at the intersections of poetry and film”

Book Launch by British Publishers Valley Press and Limehouse Books

Awards Presented by Lord Dholakia

Poetry collections by Saleem Peeradina by Valley Press & Bobby Nayyar by Limehouse Books

Poetry reading from the anthologies by Jamie McGarry (for  Saleem Peeradina) & Bobby Nayyar

Crowd Funding Award to Mona Dash

Presented by Jim Fitzpatrick, MP

Publishers Celebrated as Champion of the South-Asian Diaspora Poetry and Writing

Awards Presented by The Rt Hon Baroness Prashar, Deputy Chair of the British Council

Arc Publications, Emma Press, Eyewear Publications, Faber and Faber, HopeRoad Publishing, Limehouse Books, Nine Arches Press & Valley Press Word Masala Award presentation to poets and publishers, including the anthology launch

Awards Presented by Lord Parekh

Brief poetry readings by the winners: Shanta Acharya, Usha Akella, Meena Alexander, Siddhartha Bose, Debjani Chatterjee MBE, Mona Dash, Kavita Jindal, Usha Kishore, Reginald Massey, Daljit Nagra

Thanks: Dr Debjani Chatterjee MBE