ARCHIVED MEDIA RELEASE
PA/02/2006 18 January 2006
Bringing great poetry to India - Australian poet Les Murray in Cochin
Les Murray, one of Australia's finest poets and a critic and essayist, is visiting Cochin today. He will read some of his poems at a conversation program with Mrs Lakshmi Devi Menon, teacher at the Department of English, St. Teresa's College.
"The High Commission is delighted that Les Murray is visiting India, which is looming ever larger in the Australian imagination," said Mr John Fisher, spokesman for the Australian High Commission in Delhi. "Les Murray is a poet whose work is justly finding resonance with Indian audiences and his readings should strike a chord in Kerala," Mr Fisher added.
Les Murray's poetry is taught as a part of the Australian studies program sponsored by the Australia-India Council in several universities across India. On his second visit to India, Mr Murray's current visit includes Pune, Delhi and Ajmer, Cochin and Chennai.
Mr Murray's visit includes programs with noted Indian poets and others, including Keki N Daruwalla in Delhi; Dilip Chitre in Pune and Vasantha Surya in Chennai. The visit also includes a Poetry translation workshop in Delhi and participation in Australian Studies conferences in Pune and Ajmer.
"The visit by Mr Murray comes at a time when Australia-India relations will enjoy a further boost with the launch in India of AusArts India: film, arts literature, a major cultural promotion program by the Australian International Cultural Council later this month," said Mr Fisher. "AusArts is a two-year promotion of Australian film, visual and performing arts and literature in India," he added.
Les Murray's poetry has been published in 10 languages, including, Hindi, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Russian and Dutch. An edition in French is due early in 2006.
Les Murray's works appear regularly in leading magazines in Australia. He has won many literary awards, including the Grace Leven Prize (1980 and 1990), the Petrarch Prize (1995), and the prestigious TS Eliot Award (1996). In 1999, he was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry.
Les Murray was born in 1938 and grew up on a dairy farm at Bunyah, between Forster and Gloucester on the north coast of New South Wales. He retired from outside employment in 1971 and made literature his full time career. His work has been highly praised throughout the English-speaking world.
For more information, please contact Ms Asha Das, Country Manager, Australia-India Council on (0) 9810860451.