 Mae ymdyn nhw'n gyntaf gyda'r gyfnodol yn cael ei gyffredig. Felly, yn ymdyn nhw'n ddod, cyfnodol yn gyfnodol, ond rydyn ni'n meddwl i'ch bod i'ch gydig i'ch bod hi'n gilydd i'ch gyffredig ac yn ymdyn nhw'n gyffredig. Mae'r gyrsfyddiadau nhw wedi'u gwbl yn ymdyn nhw'n gilydd i chi'ch poethau, oedd y gydig iawn gyda'u gydig, i'ch cyfrifio ar y gyrsfyddiadau, i'ch cyfrifio ar ymdyn nhw, llwyddiol sy'n gwahyddiol ac mae amser. Ymtyazer o'r pob影yn yn y Llyfrgell GCDC yn lieddau Llyfrgell mains. A osio'r pob ringfwyd o bwysigol ar hyd o fwy fwy fwyd mwrdd sydd hwn ar y bod gyntaf o gweithio bod 25,000 o ddweud. I've been lucky enough to attend one of these events, thinking I was going to lend support in some empty hall, but instead finding myself at something of a rock star event for 2,000 school pupils. Of course, I basked in reflected glory once I'd name-dropped and impressed upon the students that I was friends with the stars. Poetry Live was founded by the late Simon Powell and was a joy to me. As somebody who enjoyed even double poetry at school, perhaps I was the only one, it was wonderful to see how presenting poetry, well, live, was the way to kindle enthusiasm. Anyone who has been lucky enough to study other languages and cultures, whether the European classics or the languages and cultures of Asia and Africa that we offer here at SOAS, will be familiar with the importance of poetry. We also know that in these cultures poetry isn't just something on the page of a textbook, but it's recited so we can experience the pleasure of its language, its sounds and its rhythms. Poetry recitals, mushairas o gavisa melons in South Asia today, attracts substantial audiences and keep poetry at the forefront of the literary imagination. Many of us still believe that the preeminent form of literature is poetry, and we are all, I believe, born with the love of poetry, but too many of us have it knocked out of us at school, or should I say we used to? Putting poets like Imtyaz on the syllabus and bringing students to poetry live restore it to its rightful place. I'd like to read one of Imtyaz's poems, that's slightly uncomfortable but never mind, the trick written this year in response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 43 and published in the anthology on Shakespeare's Sonnots published by Bloomsbury. It's the trick. In a wasted time it's only when I sleep that all my senses come awake. In the wake of you let day not break. Let me keep the scent, the weight, the bright of you. Take the countless hours and count them all night through, till that time comes when you come to the door of dreams, carrying oranges that cast a glow up into your faith. Greedy for more than the gift of seeing you, I lean in to taste the colour, kiff it off your offered mouth. For this, for this, I fall asleep in haste, willing to fall for the trick that tells the truth, that even your shade makes darkest absence bright, that shadows live wherever there is light. Imtyaz is in demand at festivals around the world from Hay, Berlin, Lake Orta in Italy, Peru, Siberia, Barcelona, Madeleine in Colombia and with a massive success more closer to home this year at the Bradford Literature Festival organised by one of our own alumni. Imtyaz has been honoured for her work as a poet. She has been poet in residence at Cambridge University Library for Thresholds and has recently completed a series of poems based on the archives of St Paul's Cathedral. Imtyaz was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014, is a recipient of the Chumley Award. She's on the editorial board of the hugely popular poems on the underground, as well as the board of the poetry archive, The Poetry Trust and the Council of the Royal Society of Literature. Imtyaz has had 11 solo exhibitions of drawings in India, London, New York and Hong Kong. She also scripts and direct documentary films and videos, many of them for non-government organisations in India, working in the area of shelter, education and health for women and children. Imtyaz has not studied it so as but she is a real so as person. Born in Pakistan and brought up in Scotland, she lived in India and now lives in London. She describes herself as a Scottish Muslim Calvinist. In July 2015 she was the castaway of the week on desert island discs on BBC Radio 4 where she spoke frankly about her upbringing and her move to India. I met Imtyaz in 1991 when her sister-in-law Rani Dhaka whom I met at MS University Baroda said I should meet Imtyaz in Bombay because we might get on. Well we've been friends ever since often together in Bombay in London and we have many memories of so many experiences together but I'm not going to share them today. Some of these but not all of them were also shared with Imtyaz's daughter Aishataka who's here today, a film and theatre actress who's acted in Star Wars, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams and Coronation Street and she's just recently finished playing to Tanya in the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare 400's production of Midsummer Night's Dream. I've already mentioned Simon Powell, the founder of Poetry Live and although we've had nearly seven years without him he still lives on in our hearts. Imtyaz and Simon live poetry in their brief time together and I was honoured to play the role of best man at their wedding, yes I said best man. Poor Simon you took all my arrangements from the white man I made you ride through Bombay to the turbines in the best of spirits and we very much wish you were here with us today. Imtyaz is the ideal person to welcome to the Zoas community where she will inspire our students and others reminding us never to lose the poetry in our lives which are about so much more than just money and successful careers. Imtyaz's poems take up themes of belonging, home and travel, cultural and gender conflict but also of happiness and love. She reminds us that we must all dare to dream. Your inner and outer beauty always inspire me dear Imtyaz and it's my privilege now Madam President to present to you Imtyaz Tharka for the award of D-Lid and I invite her to address this assembly.