Every year on March 21st, World Poetry Day celebrates humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.
It is observed to honour poets, revive oral poetry recital traditions, promote poetry reading, writing, and teaching, develop the fusion of poetry with other arts like theatre, dance, music, and painting, and increase the visibility of poetry in the media.
- World Poetry Day was organized for the first time on 21st March 2000.
History:
i.The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999 first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day.
ii.It was designated with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.
IDIL 2022–2032:
The United Nations General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/74/135) proclaimed the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022-2032), to draw global attention on the critical situation of many indigenous languages and to mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion.
As part of its efforts to preserve living traditions, UNESCO has placed a number of poetic forms on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which includes
- The Hudhud chants of the Philippines,
- The Mapoyo oral tradition of Venezuela,
- The Eshuva, Harákmbut sung prayers of Peru, and
- The Koogere oral tradition of Uganda.
About United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):
India joined UNESCO in 1946.
Director-General – Audrey Azoulay
Establishment – 1946
Member states – 193 Members and 11 Associate Members.
Headquarters – Paris, France
