Today’s poetry news round up on My Poetic Side takes a look at Matilda 30 years on, a protest in India against a controversial poem and we take a brief look at the scandal that has rocked the Nobel prize committee and has ended in a jail term.

When Matilda Met Trump

Matilda, the children’s character from the Roald Dahl books has been recreated in statue for standing up to a statue of Donald Trump, the US president. The statues are part of a celebration for the 30^th anniversary of the book.

The figures are on display at the Roald Dahl Museum, which is located in Buckinghamshire, near Great Missenden – where the poet and author lived for 36 years.

In the book, Matilda stood up to Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress. These statues are a “re-imagining” of how she might be three decades later and who she might stand up to now. The choice of Trump as the modern day “enemy” of Matilda was a result of a public poll. Trump topped the poll, closely followed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Third place was given to Piers Morgan.

The celebrations of Matilda in her 30^th year has also seen a series of 8 drawings from Sir Quentin Blake being released that imagine what Matilda in her 30’s might look like.

Not only did the poll find a new nemesis for Matilda but those polled also voted that Matilda would have remained friends with Lavender, and that the student most likely to have been a Great British Bake Off contestant would have been Bruce Bogtrotter.

Protest Against Controversial Poem

Over 100 tribal girls from various regions in India came together yesterday to protest against a controversial poem by the poet Dinkar Manwar. They were in Mumbai protesting outside the home of the Education Minister, chanting slogans against the poet.

The poem, which has been printed in the syllabus text book of the Mumbai University, is, they say, in bad taste and defames tribal girls. They are demanding that a criminal case is filed against both the education board and the poet.

The protest took part under the banner of the Shramajivi Sanghatana. They are a local organisation that works with the welfare of the tribal groups in the district in mind.

Nobel Prize Scandal Rapist Jailed

The husband of Swedish Nobel Academy member and poet Katrina Frostenson has been jailed for 2 years on rape charges in a scandal that has rocked the Awards and resulted in a decision that no Literature prize will be awarded this year.

The rape, which occurred in 2011, has been an ongoing scandal for several months and had led to the resignation of a number of members of the committee earlier this year. The issues came to light last November when 18 women came forward with sex abuse claims. This lead to a bitter internal row on the Nobel committee and ultimately, a number of resignations.

Whilst no literature prize will be awarded this year, the Nobel prize committee have been quick to confirm that they will award 2 prizes next year.