Read
Aleena S: Based out of Kochi, Aleena S performed at the recently held Adelaide Fringe in South Australia, alongside First Nations poet Dakota Feirer. The set was powered by the Mumbai-based storytelling and performance organisation, Kommune. Aleena writes in English and Malayalam, and has received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Kanakshree Award for her book of poems, Silk Route. She regularly performs with The Reserved Compartment, a collective that celebrates Dalit Ambedkarite voices.
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Kunjana Parashar: Mumbai-based Parashar launched her book They Gather Around Me, The Animals last year. It won the 2024 Barbara Stevens Poetry Book Award. Her poems explore the grandness of all creatures, big and small, and have previously won her the Toto Funds the Arts award. Parashar is currently the managing editor of the poetry segment of The Bombay Literary Magazine.
In addition to writing poems, she supports the work of other poets through The Osmosis Poetry Prize. Look out for her online workshop on March 21, especially if you wish to write about nature in the everyday world.
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Shripad Sinnakaar: Sinnakaar is a postgraduate in philosophy from the University of Mumbai. Among other spaces, his poems can be found in The White Review, Wasafiri Magazine, and Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature. In his poem Parable of Mithi, he writes about the slums around the Mithi River that have
acted as the lost habitats of flamingos in Mumbai and the changing landscape of the river. His poem Begumpura was displayed as a mural at the Sassoon Docks for the Mumbai Urban Art Festival 2022-2023.
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Watch
Ratna Pathak Shah’s reading: At Bandra’s St Andrews Auditorium, the legendary actor and theatre artiste Ratna Pathak Shah read out poems by women across decades who refused to stay silent. These voices included those of Kishwar Naheed, Salma Fazal, Parveen Shakir, Jacinta Kerketta, and Fahmida Riaz. The reading was part of the Hindi-Urdu storytelling and poetry gathering Shabd.
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Attend
Abhang: Join Indu Lalitha Harikumar and Priypal Dashantee for a performance connecting Varkari women saints’ poetry with contemporary feminist questions. The show is presented by Changbhala Foundation.
ON March 22, 6.30 pm onwards
AT The Public Place, Kurla/Tilak Nagar.
REGISTER @public.place.mumbai on Instagram
Poetry Reading Party: Enjoy the simple pleasures that come with reading poems at this party. Register and show up as you are. Printouts
of poems that insist on hope will be provided to you.
ON March 21; 7 to 8.30 pm
AT Atrangi Katta, Thane West.
ENTRY Rs 250 (includes a beverage)
Idoru’s World Poetry Day: Celebrate poetry with readings from original work of poets and some beloved classics. The poems will be read by Nisha Vasudevan, Anand Thakore, Imaad Shah, Menka Shivdasani, and Denzil Smith.
ON March 21; 4.30 to 6.30 pm
AT Idoru, Khar West.
CALL 8454834348
