"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…"
Poetry Readings. Panels. Poetry Film. Memorial Readings. Poetry Art Projects. Collaborations.
Anthology Readings
Mission: Increasing the visibility of South Asian Diasporic Poetry
115 poets have read & participated in Matwaala readings, projects, programs and the noteworthy poets-of-color series
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.
Matwaala has been featured in important journals such as Poets and Writers, the pan-European journal Versopolis's digital festival- Poetry Expo 2023 (www,versopolis.com) and The Hindu, and India Currents.
https://www.pw.org/content/building_solidarity_through_poetry
https://www.pw.org/content/matwaala_poets_and_the_new_york_city_polyphony
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://www.pw.org/content/building_solidarity_through_poetry
https://www.pw.org/content/matwaala_poets_and_the_new_york_city_polyphony
Our gratitude to Poets and Writers for supporting us since our inception.
Matwaala’s 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 POET OF HONOR - Indran Amirthanayagam |
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March |
March 27: AWP MATWAALA VIRTUAL PANEL – Multiple Registers: Matwaala Poets Assert Democracy in Difference. 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 . By Zoom. Facilitated by Marianela Medrano. 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 https://youtu.be/mWvjN-CxWr0?si=JQbCsqXHmK8YPcrf |
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June / July |
June 4, Beltway Cafe, MLK LIbrary, Wash D.C: Matwaala Poets: Facilitated by Indran Amirthanayagam. Supported by Beltway Editions. Poets: Indran A, Anita Nahal, Susana H. Case, Dawad Philip, Shweta Rao Garg, Sunayana Pal & Pramila Venkateswaran. June 6: Poetry Reading, San Francisco: Sophia Naz, Preeti Vangani & Monica Mody June 8: IWWG MATWAALA PANEL.: From other to center. Moderated by Usha Akella. Panelists: Kirun Kapur, Meher Manda, Anita Nahal & Sara Garg. Share Link https://iwwg.zoom.us/rec/share/8a1E0KI8MGUb9E9mbeY1fBDRILrMyW_IvlwyhiVX5y5K3GAp_rMUhyAKH91iEmk7.XQ_P-3ukvc7VXDDC Jul 19, 2 PM Eastern: NEW BOOKS SHOWCASE: By Zoom. – Moderated by Megha Sood. |
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August |
Aug 31: AFGHAN/PAKISTANI/BANGLADESH POETS: By Zoom. COLLABORATIVE READING WITH MATWAALA, SAPAN and BAITHAK – Anita Nahal, Shadab Zeest Hashmi & Fauzia Deeba Poets: Bangladesh: Tarfia Faizullah & Dilruba Ahmed; Pakistan: Shadab Zeest Hashmi & Sara Ghazal Ali; Afghanistan: Marjan Naderi & Sahar Muradi |
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September |
Sep 10-13: SWWIM, Florida: - MATWAALA RESIDENCY AND PROGRAM. Facilitated by Kashiana Singh. Sep 21: WALT WHITMAN BIRTHPLACE POETRY, Long Island, NY: Facilitated by Pramila Venkateswaran. |
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October |
Oct 4th: SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE MATWAALA’S MEHEFILM, Chicago: POETRY FILM EXHIBIT & 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 and Open Mic. Facilitated by Cindy Huyser. Featuring Usha Akella & Sunu Chandy 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. |
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December 13 / 14 |
Dec 13 & 14: MATWAALA’S MEHFIL. By Zoom: – Big Community Read. Organized by Matwaala Leadership. |
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Total Programs |
Poetry Readings: 15 readings Literary journal special sections: SETU & museindia.com Projects: 1. poem-a-day with Academy of American poets 2. Poetry Film Fest with SAI |
More programs TBA
POETS-OF-COLOR SERIES 2025
Mar 6; 7 PM Eastern |
PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN POETS: Ibtisam Barakat, Sharif Elmusa, Yahya Ashour & Zeina Azzam SATELLITE READING WITH USHA AKELLA & PRAMILA VENKATESWARAN |
November 6, 7 PM Eastern |
JEWISH-AMERICAN POETS: SATELLITE READING Facilitated by Usha Akella |
LITERARY JOURNAL COVERAGE
- SETU: Guest Editor Anita Nahal. Mayl 2025: https://www.setumag.com/2025/04/setu-special-edition.html
- www.museindia.com: Guest Editor Yamini Pathak. Issue No. TBA
- Versapolis
MEDIA LINKS (TBA)
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, and all our sponsors and partners.