By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 18: A poetry collection of Dr Preetinicha Barman — My Body Floating with Hyacinth — was launched by noted Shillong-based poet Robin Singh Ngangom and eminent academician Prof Nanadana Dutta of Gauhati University at a well-attended programme at U Tirot Singh Syiem Guest House of NEHU, Shillong, on Saturday.
Published by Red River, My Body Floating with Hyacinth is the first collection of poems by Dr Preetinicha Barman, who teaches English literature at NEHU, Shillong.
While releasing the book, both Robin Nagangom and Nanadana Dutta spoke at length about the poems of Preetinicha Barman.
While Nagangom described her poems as essentially rooted and yet universal and highlighted the anthropomorphic nuances in the poems, Dutta underlined the intricate use of language and the sense of intimate linkages with the native milieu as reflected in the poems. Both of them recited select poems from the collection and analysed them with rich critical insights and described the collection as a significant addition to the growing oeuvre of Northeast poetry in English.
Efficiently anchored by Rikee Talukdar, the book launch ceremony was followed by an engaging poetry reading session where, apart from Peetinicha Barman, Dr Lalnunsanga Ralte and Prof Ghanashyam Bez read their poems. Noted translator Dr Amitabh Ranjan Kanu read his Assamese translations of Preetinicha’s poems.
Sarodi Saikia and Saptarshi Chakraborty, the two young poets from the English Department of NEHU, also read their poems which were much appreciated by the audience present in the programme.
