Celebrating the art of verse

Poetry with Prakriti brings together eminent and emerging poets, featuring readings to small, intimate audiences. These readings take place at several venues in the city, including colleges and cafeterias, IT parks and public parks and spaces, and select shops and commercial establishments. The main idea is to bring poetry closer to the public. The ongoing festival that brings together 30 eminent and emerging poets from across the world will be held till December 14. Here are a few sessions to watch out for. 

Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla has penned over 12 books and is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. A poet and prose writer, Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry, the Raza Award for Poetry and the International Piero Bigongiari Prize. Her most recent book of poems, When God Is A Traveller (2014), was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Bina Sarkar Ellias is founder of International Gallerie, an award-winning global arts and ideas publication from India, and author of The Room, published by Aark Arts, UK. It will be held on December 2, 7 pm, at Apparao Gallery. 

Sunil Shanbag will direct a theatre performance based on poems written in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Kashmiri. He will explore themes such as conflicted relationships, political resistance, identity, and the intense act of writing itself. The event is scheduled on December 13, 7 pm, at Spaces, Besant Nagar.

The performance by Astad Deboo, pioneer of contemporary Indian dance, is inspired by the work called Maati by Sufi poet Hazrat Bulleh Shah. The poem is related to mortality, death and suffering. It will be held on December 14, 7 pm, at Alliance Française.