Jatiya Kobita Utsob 2026 office inaugurated

The office of Jatiya Kobita Utsob (National Poetry Festival), 2026 was formally inaugurated on the Dhaka University campus on Thursday (1 January), marking the beginning of preparations for the two-day festival scheduled to be held on 1 and 2 February.

The office was inaugurated at the Student-Teacher Centre (TSC) of the university, where National Poetry Festival President and poet Mohan Raihan officially announced the opening.

Poet Rezauddin Stalin, general secretary of the National Poetry Festival and director general of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, delivered the welcome address at the ceremony.

Organisers said the office will remain open every day from 3pm to 8pm from Thursday for the registration of poets from Dhaka and other parts of the country, as well as foreign poets, who wish to participate in the festival.

This year’s festival will be held under the slogan: “Poetry will stop anti-cultural exaggeration.”

The registration fee has been fixed at Tk200, while the online registration process will begin on 4 January. At the time of registration, participants must submit two passport-size photographs and two copies of two poems.

A number of prominent poets and cultural figures attended the inauguration ceremony, including Manab Surat, Golam Shafiq, ABM Sohel Rashid, Nurunnabi Sohel, Rokon Zahur, Shimul Parvin, Nipu Mallick, Timuni Khan Rino, Shahin Chowdhury, Nahid Hasan, Mahbub Shawkat, Jamil Jahangir, Bappi Saha, Murad Al Hasan Chowdhury, Kaumudi Nargis, Rafiq Chowdhury, Taslima Akhter and Nazia Afrin, among others.