Poetry reading and performance (for children & adults), poetry and prose workshops (for children & adults), storytelling for children, poster-poem workshops, writing commissions.

Debjani Chatterjee was born in India and has also lived in Japan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Egypt and Morocco before coming to Britain in 1972. She studied Literature and Religion at the American University in Cairo and the University of Kent at Canterbury. Her PhD research at the University of Lancaster was on Indo-Anglian Literature. She has worked in the steel industry, education and community relations. Twisting Yarn Theatre Company toured her play for children, 'The Honoured Guest', and Faber & Faber published it in 2004. Her poems have won prizes in major competitions including the Peterloo, the Lancaster LitFest and the Southport Writers' Circle.

Debjani won a Yorkshire & Humberside Arts Writer's Award in 1995. THE ELEPHANT-HEADED GOD & OTHER HINDU TALES was selected for Children's Books of the Year. BARBED LINES won the Raymond Williams Community Publishing Prize and THE REDBECK ANTHOLOGY OF BRITISH SOUTH ASIAN POETRY won the Raymond Williams Runner-up Prize. RAINBOW WORLD: POEMS FROM MANY CULTURES was a runner-up for an EMMA Best Book Award. In 2002 Sheffield Hallam University awarded her an honorary doctorate for 'outstanding contribution to literature and the arts and service to the community'.

A former Literature Adviser to the Arts Council of England and Chair of its Translations Panel, Debjani is currently Chair of the National Association of Writers in Education(NAWE) and Reviews Editor of its magazine WRITING IN EDUCATION. She is also Director of Sahitya Press and Associate Editor of Pratibha India and Tadeeb International. She has had a number of important writing and storytelling residencies, including at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

Poetry:

I WAS THAT WOMAN (Hippopotamus Press, 1989); also available in an Indian edition from Writers Workshop;

WHISTLING STILL: BLOODY LYRES with J Clucas & J O'Leary (Poets PLC, 1989);

THE SUN RISES IN THE NORTH with J Lyons, C Martin & L Sissay (Smith Doorstop, 1991);

A LITTLE BRIDGE with S Fletcher & B S Kazmi (Pennine Pens, 1997);

ALBINO GECKO (University of Salzburg Press 1998);

NAZRUL ISLAM poster-poems & notes (Survivors' Poetry, 2001);

JADE HORSE TORSO: POEMS & TRANSLATIONS (Sixties Press, 2003);

NAMASKAR: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (Redbeck, 2004).

For children:

THE ELEPHANT-HEADED GOD AND OTHER HINDU TALES (Lutterworth Press 1989);

THE MONKEY GOD AND OTHER HINDU TALES (Rupa & Co. 1993);

SUFI STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Harper Collins 1994);

NYAMIA AND THE BAG OF GOLD (Longman 1994; also available in a Welsh translation by Meinir Evans);

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHILD (CUP 1996; also on audio-cassette from 1997);

THE MESSAGE OF THUNDER & OTHER PLAYS (Orient Longman, 1999);

ANIMAL ANTICS - poetry (Pennine Pens, in association with the Poetry Society, 2000);

RAINBOW WORLD: POEMS FROM MANY CULTURES with Bashabi Fraser (Hodder, 2003).

MASALA: POEMS FROM INDIA, BANGLADESH, PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA (Macmillan Children's Books, 2005).

THE SONG OF THE SCYTHE (Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, in 5 bilingual editions, 2005).

Literary criticism:

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Writers Workshop, Calcutta 1984).

As editor:

PEACES: POEMS FOR PEACE BY SHEFFIELD CHILDREN with C Searle (SCRE & Sheffield Education Dept 1987);

NO LIMITS: WOMEN IN THE ARTS with others (Yorkshire Arts 1988);

EXTENDING FRONTIERS: BLACK ARTISTS AT WORK with others (Yorkshire Arts 1988);

BARBED LINES with Rashida Islam (BWSG Book Project & Yorkshire Art Circus 1990);

NORTHERN POETRY II with W Scammell (Littlewood Arc, 1991);

SWEET AND SOUR with R Choudhury, K Ghosh & R Islam (BWSG Book Project, 1993);

HOME TO HOME with S Ara (Sheffield Libraries Local Studies, 1995);

THE SNAKE PRINCE & OTHER FOLK TALES FROM BENGAL with Rehana Choudhury (BWSG Book Project, 1999);

A REDBECK ANTHOLOGY OF BRITISH SOUTH ASIAN POETRY (Redbeck, 2000);

WHO CARES? REMINISCENCES OF YEMENI CARERS IN SHEFFIELD (Sheffield Carers Centre, 2001);

MY BIRTH WAS NOT IN VAIN: SELECTED POEMS BY SEVEN BENGALI WOMEN with Safuran Ara (Sheffield Libraries, 2001);

RAINBOW WORLD: POEMS FROM MANY CULTURES (see above);

GENERATIONS OF GHAZALS: GHAZALS BY NASIR KAZMI & BASIR SULTAN KAZMI (Redbeck, 2003);

SIXTIES PRESS ANTHOLOGY OF GREGORY FELLOWS' POETRY with Barry Tebb (Sixties Press, 2004);

MASALA: POEMS FROM INDIA, BANGLADESH, PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA (Macmillan Children's Books, 2005).

A SLICE OF SHEFFIELD with Rashida Islam (Sahitya Press, 2005).

Translations:

THE PARROT'S TRAINING by Rabindranath Tagore (The Tagore Centre UK, 1993);

ALBUM by Uma Prasad Mukherjee, trans. with Tara Chatterjee (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1997); SONGS IN EXILE by Safuran Ara (Sheffield Libraries, 1999);

NAZRUL ISLAM POSTER-POEM PACK with teaching notes (Survivors' Poetry, 2001).

GENERATIONS OF GHAZALS - poetry translated from Urdu (see above).

The Off the Shelf Literature Festival has worked with Debjani Chatterjee for a number of years. Debjani has done poetry readings, storytelling, sessions and workshops for school groups in libraries across Sheffield.

This year, she did a public event for children aged 8-10 years accompanied by an adult in Sheffield's Central Library. I attended the event and thought that the content and presentation were excellent.

The festival always asks participating libraries to complete an event evaluation sheet. We have always had a positive report back on Debjani's events.

Community Arts Officers, Sheffield City Council

I am writing with regard to Debjani Chatterjee's work with Kirklees Community History Service in October and November 2003 as part of our Diwali 2003 programme of work.

Debjani worked with us for 3 days in schools within Kirklees in October 2003 giving an Introduction to Hundu faith & Diwali/Storytelling/Poetry workshop with children aged between 7 and 11.

Debjani's work within school was enormously successful, both in introducing the children involved in the sessions to the Hindu faith and the Hindu celebration of Diwali, but also in introducing the groups to stories and poetry regarding the festival, then working with children for them to produce acrostic poems of their own regarding the celebration.

The teachers' whose classes took part in the sessions comments included 'Very Good - would love to repeat the experience next year', along with confirmation of Debjani's work helped 'To increase understanding of Hinduism and the celebration of Diwali' within school.

Debjani then worked with us at our Diwali 2003 public event at Tolson Museum in November involving Poetry Performance/Storytelling/Children's Poetry Performance.

Debjani worked with a small number of the children worked with in school at the Tolson Museum event to perform the poetry work undertaken by them in school to the public.

In addition, Debjani performed poetry from her published work and undertook storytelling sessions, again from her published work.

This work was also enormously successful, with our Visitors' Book comments for the event including the following comments: 'Very good and very enjoyable' 'Poetry got to my heart' 'It was brilliant'

I worked with Debjani throughout the activities described above, finding her to be incredibly professional and reliable, along with being creative and able to use her initiative in the development of the work programme. Debjani held the interest of the children taking part with ease, with all teachers' involved commenting on the positive experience that they had had in working with Debjani.

I hope to work with Debjani again in the future.

Community Education Officer Kirklees Community History Service