UN launches anthology to mark International Day of Happiness

The programme, which featured a reading by Pulitzer-prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, with poets Dara Barnat, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Laren McClung and Javier Zamora, also featured book signingIn June 2012 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 66/281, proclaiming 20 March the International Day of Happiness. The resolution describes happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and extends […]

The programme, which featured a reading by Pulitzer-prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, with poets Dara Barnat, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Laren McClung and Javier Zamora, also featured book signing
In June 2012 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 66/281, proclaiming 20 March the International Day of Happiness. The resolution describes happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and extends an invitation to “observe the International Day of Happiness in an appropriate manner, including through education and public-awareness raising activities”.
The United Nations SRC Society of Writers, whose members include writers, poets and journalists from within the international community, is dedicated to promoting the written word as a powerful and artistic tool in communication. With that in mind, and in response to the General Assembly’s invitation, the Society of Writers has published Happiness: The Delight Tree, a collection of poems on happiness from 56 countries and five world regions, the poems are in English, with original-language versions in 30 different languages.
The anthology is dedicated to Sri Chinmoy, whose poem, The Roots of Delight-Tree, is the source of the book’s title: “Every human being/In his soul’s progress-march/Will ultimately discover/The roots of delight-tree/That weave and unweave/Through the earth-bound life”.