Today in our poetry news round-up we have a new book of Indian love poetry and the call for Robert Burns enthusiasts to volunteer at Ellisland.

3000 Years of Love Poetry Published

The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, containing 3000 years of poetry written in over 24 different Indian languages, has been released. The book contains poems by poets like Kalidasa, Bhartrihardi and Bihardi, as well as some more contemporary writers.

The many facets of love are explored within the poems in the book including affection, unconditional love, and pining. Unlike previous anthologies, this book spans a much greater time period as well as including far more languages. The poems have all been carefully translated into English so that they will appeal to the younger generation, for whom many of these languages are no longer their main one.

The book has been put together by Abhay K. The Indian ambassador to Madagascar who is also a poet. He is an author of 2 memoirs and 9 collections of poetry. He was also the editor of “100 Great Indian Poems”; a book which was translated into Spanish, Italian, Malagasy, and Portuguese.

Enthusiasts of Robert Burns Needed to Help Save Poets Home

A new charity is looking for enthusiasts of Robert Burns, the Scottish national poet to help them in their project, which they hope will mean they are able to reopen one of the most important sites associated with the poet to the general public once more.

The project centres around Ellisland Farm, which was the family home of Burns near Dumfries.

Formed in April, The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust was set up with the goal of not only conserving the poet home but also promoting it. Now they are seeking friendly energetic individuals with an interest in the poet to assist them. Volunteers will be able to help with a range of things including gardening, curatorial duties, front of house, and generally getting the property open to the public and helping to maintain it.

Training and a full induction will be given to all of the volunteers. The property is where Burns wrote some of his masterpieces including Auld Lang Syne and Tam o’ Shanter.   Volunteers will also get to work with international experts of the poet and learn about his life in greater detail.

Volunteers have been involved in keeping the property maintained over the summer and there is a proud history of people wanting to help out with sites associated with the poet. With the effects of the pandemic still raging on, the charity has come to rely on volunteers more than ever before and in June, issued a warning that urgent funds were needed if the site was to remain open.

Burns took up the lease of the farm in 1788. It was one of three farms that he was offered at the time and he referred to it as “the poet’s choice.

Ellisland was previously looked after by the Ellisland Trust, who handed it over to The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust in April. Unfortunately the later were not aware at the time that funds had been run down and the property was running a deficit.