Mission: Amplifying the visibility of South Asian Diasporic Poetry
"Voices that dare to say the unsaid and hear the unheard… voices that break down barriers… voices that dare to be South Asian, American and simply human…"
Approximately 125 poets have read & participated in Matwaala readings, projects & programs
Matwaala, South Asian Diaspora Poets’ Collective, is a community of poets whose origins go back to South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Afghanistan. Our mission is to promote South Asian poetry in the American literary landscape, and collaborate with other arts in North America through a festival, publications and mutual support.
https://www.pw.org/content/building_solidarity_through_poetry
https://www.pw.org/content/matwaala_poets_and_the_new_york_city_polyphony
https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/news/matwaala-marks-10-years-with-inaugural-south-asian-poetry-film-festival
https://indiacurrents.com/matwaalas-mehfilm-2025-celebrates-south-asian-poetry-films/
"Matwaala’s transformative work uplifts South Asian diasporic voices through poetry, fostering community and amplifying ideas that resonate across borders. I'm honoured and deeply gratified to be part of its advisory board and this powerful literary movement." TISHANI DOSHI
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PROGRAMS:
Matwaala Mehfil-Poetry Readings & Panels; Matwaala Mehfilm: Poetry Film Fest; Matwaala Spotlight- focused poetry reading and conversation; Matwaala Mela - Big community read; Matwaala Masti-New Books Showcase; Matwaala Milan-Poets-of-color series; Matwaala Sangrah-Anthology Readings; Matwaala Yaadein-Memorial Readings; Matwaala Medley-Poetry Art Projects & Collaborations; Matwaala Mool Swar: Keynotes.
AWARDS:
Matwaala Muse-Poet-of-honor & Matwaala Monsoon Maker award- supporter of poetry
PROGRAMS:
Matwaala Mehfil-Poetry Readings & Panels; Matwaala Mehfilm: Poetry Film Fest; Matwaala Spotlight- focused poetry reading and conversation; Matwaala Mela - Big community read; Matwaala Masti-New Books Showcase; Matwaala Milan-Poets-of-color series; Matwaala Sangrah-Anthology Readings; Matwaala Yaadein-Memorial Readings; Matwaala Medley-Poetry Art Projects & Collaborations; Matwaala Mool Swar: Keynotes.
AWARDS:
Matwaala Muse-Poet-of-honor & Matwaala Monsoon Maker award- supporter of poetry
A call out to our young designers Francisca Li for the website, Anannya Akella and Sanvi Nagaraju for their brilliant posters
MATWAALA MEHFIL
Tenth Anniversary Celebrations in 2025!
Special mention: Matwaala’s collaborates with Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day program this year!
https://nripulse.com/matwaala-marks-10-years-of-amplifying-south-asian-diaspora-voices-through-poetry/
https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/indian-diaspora-community/matwaala-poetry-festival-to-mark-decade-of-elevating-diaspora-voices
Our gratitude to Poets and Writers for supporting us since our inception.
Matwaala Muse- poet-of-honor 2025: Indran Amirthanayagam
My Literary House by Indran Amirthanayagam |
Matwaala is thrilled to honor Indran Amirthanayagam as the 2025 Matwaala poet-of-honor for good reason. Indran has been described first by the poet Anne Casey as “the poet of the people”. He is indeed a poet who incorporates the languages of the world into his verses, who believes that poetry makes something happen, that it can heal and refresh and renew our purpose as we seek to overcome the terrible challenges facing us and the Earth we share with all other life.
Soon after arrival in Maryland, he established a series of poetry readings called Poetry At The Port. Held at the Haitian restaurant Port Au Prince, the series quickly became the center of spoken word, and poetry on the page, in Silver Spring during the 2017 to 2022 period. Indran now organizes readings at Beltway Editions, the poetry press he founded with Sara Cahill Marron. By doing so he satisfied another long-held dream, that the house of poetry is both literally a house and a metaphor. So, at Beltway Editions, visitors know a poet lives there. He drives around the state to promote poetry, to Frostburg, to Annapolis to the Eastern Shore, spreading the word. He does it as well virtually. Indran started a you tube channel in 2020 which he calls The Poetry Channel. There are more than 720 videos on the channel now, featuring poetry in multiple languages and from all over the world. The channel has 619 subscribers at last count, but the videos are seen and heard by many more through publishing in various other social media, including Facebook, Linked In, Instagram and Twitter. Indran will not stop until the word spreads to every corner of the visible and the invisible world. His need to connect with the world–spurred ironically by the early loss of his beloved Tamil language and culture– has brought him to write and publish poetry in five languages and introduce poets to Maryland from as far away as India, Israel and Australia. |
2025 PROGRAMS
January & February |
UNVEILING OF MATWAALA MEHFIL 2025 POSTER & WEBSITE. ANNOUNCEMENT OF MATWAALA MUSE - POET OF HONOR - Indran Amirthanayagam |
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March |
March 27: AWP MATWAALA VIRTUAL PANEL – Multiple Registers: Matwaala Poets Assert Democracy in Difference. Usha Akella, Indran Amirthanayagam. Kashiana Singh, Zilka Joseph & Pramila Venkateswaran . Mar 27th-30th. Moderated by Pramila Venkateswaran. |
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April |
April 11, 7 PM EST: National Poetry Month- Matwaala Spotlight: Pramila Venkateswaran on her new book, Exile is Not a Foreign Word . In conversation with Marianela Medrano. Facilitated by Usha Akella. Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/Zs6aPSTI6F78FR1XNG-JmcxYIia629gvHRwrsNUknSSSiPyqRJeZGiNB_12DAIC2.B7RThLuPxzvz8qzW Passcode: ?91y=kSN |
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May |
HIGHLIGHT PROJECT: POEM-A-DAY WITH ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS. Facilitated by Usha Akella. Featured poets- Sophia Naz, Usha Akella, Pramila Venkateswaran, Kirun Kapur, Varsha Saraiya-Shah May 25: Matwaala Spotlight:: Kashiana Singh's Witching Hour and Bhaswati Ghosh's Nostalgic for a place never seen- conversation and reading. Facilitated by Usha Akella. https://youtu.be/mWvjN-CxWr0?si=JQbCsqXHmK8YPcrf |
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June / July |
June 4, Beltway Cafe, MLK LIbrary, Wash D.C: Matwaala Poets: Supported by Beltway Editions. Poets: Indran A, Anita Nahal, Susana H. Case, Dawad Philip, Shweta Rao Garg, Sunayana Pal & Pramila Venkateswaran. Facilitated by Indran Amirthanayagam. June 8: IWWG MATWAALA PANEL.: From other to center. Moderated by Usha Akella. Panelists: Kirun Kapur, Meher Manda, Anita Nahal & Sara Garg. https://iwwg.zoom.us/rec/share/8a1E0KI8MGUb9E9mbeY1fBDRILrMyW_IvlwyhiVX5y5K3GAp_rMUhyAKH91iEmk7.XQ_P-3ukvc7VXDDC Jul 19, 2 PM Eastern: NEW BOOKS SHOWCASE: By Zoom. Pramila Venkateswaran, Indran Amirthanayagam, Diya Kanduri, Yamini Pathak. Srinivas Mandavilli, Ashna Ali, Megha Sood, Feroza Jussawalla, Anita Nahal, & Usha Akella Moderated by Megha Sood. https://youtu.be/M-AdXElexhI |
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August |
Aug 31: AFGHAN/PAKISTANI/BANGLADESH POETS: By Zoom. Moderated by Shadab Zeest Hashmi. Poets: Bangladesh: Tarfia Faizullah & Dilruba Ahmed; Pakistan: Shadab Zeest Hashmi & Sara Ghazal Ali; Afghanistan: Marjan Naderi & Sahar Muradi |
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September |
Sep 3, Tufts University. Sponsored by the Tifts Asian and Asian American Affinity Group. Featured poets: Pramila Venkateswran & Arundhathi Subramaniam. Facilitated by Ravi Shankar. Sep 10-13: SWWIM, Florida: - MATWAALA RESIDENCY AND PROGRAM. Poet in residence: Nina Sudhakar. Facilitated by Kashiana Singh. Sep 21: WALT WHITMAN BIRTHPLACE POETRY, Long Island, NY: Poets: Megha Sood, Ralph Nazareth, Prageeta Sharma, & Ramya Ramana Facilitated by Pramila Venkateswaran. |
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October |
Oct 4th: SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE MATWAALA’ MEHFILM, Chicago: POETRY FILM SCREENING & Poetry Reading by Matwaala Poets Facilitated by Kashiana Singh, Usha Akella & Pramila Venkateswaran |
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November |
Nov 13: BookWoman, Austin: 2nd Thursday Poetry Reading. . Featuring Usha Akella & Sunu Chandy. Facilitated by Cindy Huyser Nov 15th: Matwaala Mehfilm at IAAC, NYC Nov 22, 11am-12.30 PM Central: Matwaala Spotlight: Anthology reading: Sing Slivered Tongue: An Anthology of South Asian Women's Poetry of Trauma in English Edited by Lopamudra Basu and Feroza Jussawalla: A Transnational Reading. Facilitated by the editors. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88437669566?pwd=aRmoM0ojzC9jtvneUcPrTSUOcB9bYV.1 Meeting ID: 884 3766 9566 Passcode: 189221 |
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December |
Finale Tenth Anniversary Celebrations: Dec 9, Matwaala Mool Swar: Capstone address by Tracy Smith Dec 14, Matwaala Mool Swar: Keynote by Dr. Subhash Kak Facilitated by Matwaala Leadership. TBA. |
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Total Programs |
Poetry Events: 20 Literary journal special sections: SETU & museindia.com Projects: 1. poem-a-day with Academy of American poets 2. Poetry Film Fest Hosted by South Asia Institute, Chicago. 3. SWWIM: Matwaala Poet residency program. |
POETS-OF-COLOR SERIES 2025
Mar 6; 7 PM Eastern |
PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN POETS: Ibtisam Barakat, Sharif Elmusa, Yahya Ashour & Zeina Azzam |
November 6, 7 PM Eastern |
JEWISH-AMERICAN POETS: Hila Ratzabi, Leslie Neustadt, Rhonda Rosenheck, Richard Michelson, Barbara Ungar, Sharon Dolin, Joy Ladin, Richard Newman, &,Zilka Joseph. Moderated by Zilka Joseph. Facilitated by Usha Akella Meeting ID: 810 9146 6691, Passcode: 971951 |
LITERARY JOURNAL COVERAGE
- SETU: Guest Editor Anita Nahal. May 2025: https://www.setumag.com/2025/04/setu-special-edition.html
- www.museindia.com: Guest Editor Yamini Pathak. Issue No. TBA
- Versapolis
MEDIA LINKS 2025
https://nripulse.com/matwaala-marks-10-years-of-amplifying-south-asian-diaspora-voices-through-poetry/
https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/indian-diaspora-community/matwaala-poetry-festival-to-mark-decade-of-elevating-diaspora-voices
https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/news/matwaala-marks-10-years-with-inaugural-south-asian-poetry-film-festival
MAPS: Matwaala Anthology
Click to view
Mugs
The Matwaala commemorative mug is our quirky salute to the poet of honor at each festival.
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Intoxicated by Poetry
Photo by Nomita Verma Pfaff
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Made possible by USCommunity brought together by poetry
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Photo by Nomita Verma Pfaff
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Thank you to the collective's poets who made the website possible, website designer Francisca, posters’ designer Anannya Akella & Sanvi Nagaraju, and all our sponsors and partners.