Moravian University Rabindranath Tagore Distinguished Lecture Series presents:

Tagore’s Idea of the Heaven of Freedom

Presented by Dr. Bashabi Fraser

Tuesday, April 2, 2024 | 7:30 p.m. EDT
Moravian University | Foy Concert Hall
342 Main Street | Bethlehem, PA
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RABINDRANATH TAGORE was a Bengali poet, philosopher, novelist, social reformer, and painter best known for being the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Tagore was highly influential in introducing Indian culture to the West and is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India. Rabindranath Tagore lived through the agonies and destruction of the First World War and witnessed the unfolding of the second one. In his essay entitled Freedom, Tagore says, “Where the mind itself is smothered under a load of dead things...all our powers must be directed toward rescuing it from the debris of ruined antiquity.”

This lecture will consider the breadth of Rabindranath's work, which embodies his vision of freedom that can lead to true liberation for all.

"Thou hast brought the distance near and made a brother of the stranger" Gitanjali: Verse 63

Dr. Bashabi Fraser, CBE, is an award-winning poet, children’s writer, editor, and academic. She is Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University and Founder Director of the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies. Dr. Fraser is the recipient of a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) award (2021 The Queen’s New Year Honours) for education, culture, and cultural integration, all of which encompass her academic work, poetry, and bridge-building projects linking Scotland and India. She is the chief editor of the academic and creative peer-reviewed international e-journal Gitanjali and Beyond and is on the editorial board of several international peer-reviewed journals, as well as WritersMosaic, a Royal Literary Fund division. Dr. Fraser’s work traverses continents in transnational literary projects. She has authored and edited 25 books, published several articles and chapters in academic and creative books and journals, and she has been widely anthologized as a poet. Her recent publications include Habitat (2023), Patient Dignity (2021), Lakshmi’s Footprints and Paisley Patterns: Perspectives on Scoto-Indian Literacy and Cultural Interrelations (2023), and Rabindranath Tagore (2019).

Moravian University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Suzanne Moyer at moyers@moravian.edu or 610-861-1491 at least one week prior to the event.