Debjani Chatterjee, MBE

Debjani Chatterjee is an Indian-born 'poet full of wit and charm' (Andrew Motion), 'a rainbow spirit' (Paul Beasley) and 'a voice of rare originality' (David Morley). Editor, translator, children's writer & founder of Sahitya Press, she has written & edited over 50 books, including the poetry collections Namaskar: New & Selected Poems, Words Spit & Splinter and I Was That Woman. Award-winning anthologies she has edited include The Redbeck Anthology of British South Asian Poetry and Barbed Lines. Her poetry & translations have won major prizes. Sheffield Hallam University awarded her an honorary doctorate for literature, the arts & community service. In 2008 she received an MBE. She has been described as 'the best-known Asian poet in the UK today'.
Debjani is also a children's writer and storyteller. Her retellings of traditional tales from many cultures include Nyamia & the Bag of Gold (Longman) , The Most Beautiful Child (CUP), The Snake Prince & Other Folk Tales from Bengal (Sahitya Press) and The Elephant-headed God & Other Hindu Tales (Lutterworth), which was selected for Children's Books of the Year. Her multilingual interactive play 'The Honoured Guest' was toured by Twisting Yarn Theatre and published by Faber & Faber in Plays for Children 2.
Her many residencies have included ones at York St John University, the Ilkley Literature Festival, Bedfordshire Schools, Kelvin Grove Museum & Art Gallery and Sheffield Children's Hospital and the Millennium Galleries.

Debjani is available for writing commissions, residencies, readings, talks, workshops, storytelling & competition adjudications in the UK & abroad.

Debjani's special interests:
* WRITING FOR CHILDREN
* WRITING & SPIRITUALITY
* WRITING & HEALTH, particularly POETRY & SURVIVORSHIP

Interfaith tree Debjani John Geoff Grace Rupa 15 N

Planting an Interfaith Tree in Burngreave, Sheffield

Debjani is:
* Patron of Survivors' Poetry
* Co-Chair (with Chris Meade) of Hyphen-21
* Vice-Chair of Sheffield Cancer Voices
* Founder-member of the Healing Word
* Founder-member of Bengali Women's Support Group
* Founder-member of Sheffield Inter-faith
* Honorary life member of the Nasir Kazmi Society in Pakistan
* Life member of the Poetry Society of India
* Life member of the Poetry Society UK & member of the Society's Poetry Class Team
* Member of the National Association of Writers in Education
* Member of Tai Chi for Breast Cancer Group, Macmillan Cancer Voices, the Adult Cancer Survivorship Project & other bodies aiming to promote cancer survivorship
* Member of Sheffield Carers Centre

* Associate Editor of Tadeeb International
* Associate Editor of Pratibha India
* Literary Editor of The Colour of Health
* Honorary Adviser to Word Masala
* Mentor for Survivors Poetry

* * * * * READINGS IN 2010 * * * * *
* Tuesday 2nd March - reading at the Sticky Bun Club, the Cafe, Leopold Street, Sheffield 1.
* Friday 14th May 6.30pm - reading with Yogesh Patel at the Nehru Centre, London
* Ilkley Multilingual Mushaira at the Ilkley Playhouse on 3rd October, 1.30pm
* Diwali reading at Wednesfield Library, Wolverhampton.
* A Tasty Garland - a picture storybook for children to colour - launched by Chrissie Meleady MBE with a reading by Debjani at Weston Park Museum by Museums Sheffield & Sahitya Press on 27 Nov. 2010

Debjani at a Cancer Research Relay for Life celebration

* STORYTELLING & SCHOOL VISITS IN 2010 *

* Wednesday 17th Feb. - Chinese & Indian stories at the Museum, Weston Park, Sheffield
- WORLD BOOK DAY WEEK visits in March to: primary & secondary schools in Lancashire, Yorkshire & South Wales.
* Visit in May to Matthew Arnold Primary in Toxteth, Liverpool, for 'Tropical Tales', & to the Museum in Sheffield for storytelling & art.
* Visit in May to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for 'Tropical Tales'.
* Storytelling at Victoria Methodist Church, Stafford Rd. Sheffield on 26 June.
* Visit in June to York St John University for the launch of Journeys and Places.
* Visit in July to Hayfield Primary, Peak District, for Cultural Diversity Week.
- NATIONAL POETRY WEEK visits in October to St George's College, Weybridge, and Southbank International School, London.
* Off-the-Shelf Festival visit to Tinsley Library, Sheffield on 27 Oct.

* * * * * WORKSHOPS IN 2010 * * * * *

* Saturdays 20th & 27th February, & 6th March 2.30 - 4.30pm - Debjani ran 'Festivals' poetry workshops on current festivals like Holi & Purim at Kala Sangam, 1 Forster Square, Bradford
* International Women's Day 'Yoga Mudras for Health' workshops at the Centre in the Park. Norfolk Heritage Park, Sheffield
* Visit in June to Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, for poetry workshops with primary schoolchildren.
* Workshops for Bengali Women's Support Group, Sheffield - Feb. onwards.
* Workshops for Roshni Over 50s Project, Sheffield - April onwards.
* Workshops for Roshni Asian Women's Carers' Project, Sheffield - April onwards.
* Workshop for Roshni's Diya Youth Project, Sheffield - Sept.
* Workshop for Roshni's staff, Sheffield - Nov.

FORTHCOMING

* Reading & workshop with 'the Scrawling Pacers' to celebrate National Poetry Week on 9th October from 10.30am to 12.30 at Park Community Centre, Sheffield. ALL ARE WELCOME!

* * FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS * *

* Sufi Stories from Around the World - stories for children, to be published by Caboodle Books in association with Sahitya Press in 2010.
* A poetry collection for children to be published by Caboodle Books.
* Let's Celebrate! Festival Poems from Around the World - a poetry anthology for children, jointly edited with Brian D'Arcy, to be published by Frances Lincoln Publishers in 2011.