Charnwood Arts' Kala Kahani project and Leicester Libraries are delighted to welcome Arvind Mehrotra, the first Indian poet to be nominated for a professorship by Oxford University, to Leicester.

In his own words he will be "entertaining us with 2000 years of Indian poetry in 90 minutes! From early Prakrik love poems to Kabir (15th Century) to Arun Kolatkar (1931-2004)"

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is the author of four books of poems, the most recent of which is The Transfiguring Places (1998). His edited books include The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) and The Last Bungalow: Writings on Allahabad (2007). The Absent Traveller: Prākrit Love Poetry from the Gāthāsaptaśatī of Sātavāhana Hāla (1991), a volume of translations, has recently been reprinted.

During his visit to the UK he will be speaking at Goldsmith’s (University of London) and the English Faculty of Oxford University on Kabir and Kipling; reading poetry with Tom Paulin, Bernard O’Donoghue and others at St Hugh’s College, Oxford and at the Avril Bruton Creative Writing Prize event, also at St Hugh’s.

We are privileged and delighted to welcome Arvind to read his poems for us. Tickets are free but places are limited and will need to be booked in advance

This event would not be possible without the support of the University of Northampton School of Arts and CCFN (Centre for Contemporary Fiction and Narrative)