Kolkata, Feb 8 (PTI) Renowned US poet-writer of Palestinian origin, Nathalie Handal, has said since her childhood days she had been perpetually moving from one place to another and hence her literary works reflect her vision of a world without borders.

Participating in the literature festival held on the International Kolkata Book Fair ground, Handal said she belongs to a family of "different nationalities."

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"Since the days I was a young girl, I have been always moving from one place to another. And it continued. Sometimes I am in Europe and at other times I am teaching at Iowa University in US. At another time, I am attending workshop or meet at another place. Today, I am here in Kolkata, where I had been 15 years back as well,” she said.

The poet of 'The Lives of rain', 'Love and Strange Horses', 'The Invisible Star' and ‘Life in a Country' described Kolkata as a fascinating city which emanates a good, positive vibe, shows a great spirit of hope "in a world which is increasingly divided."

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Calling herself a quintessential global citizen, she termed her work as a collection of “fragmented moments".

"I am trying to build a geography where poetry allows you to cross boundaries, in the hope of peace," she said while reading one of her literary compositions.

Sahitya Akademi Award winning Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar, a friend of Handal, said while one of her poems talks about her native place in Palestine, his poems recall his birthplace in Bangladesh.

“The voices of two families, separated by thousands of kilometres, in two corners of the globe become one as we tell the tale of migrants,” Sarkar said at the event.

Bengali writer Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, also a Sahitya Akademi Award winner, was present at the function held on Thursday.

He said, "Literature cannot be celebrated in an ostentatious manner as the writer or poet has to pen the thoughts in the desolate corner of his room, his den."

"The writer essentially writes for him, addressing himself but when it connects with a single reader, a lone reader - the writer feels a wonderful sense of satisfaction, of reaching out," he said.

The 11th edition of the Kolkata Literature Festival was held from February 6 to 8 at the 48th International Kolkata Book Fair ground.

The book fair is taking place between January 28 and February 9.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)