HTKGAF 2018: 19 poets, 1 evening of celebration

Senior established poets, regulars and new writers all participated

Nineteen poets in one evening — it’s a poetry-lover’s dream come true. Hope Street Poets, an evening celebrating the hope that poetry affords, returned to the Hindustan Times Kala Ghoda Arts Festival for a sixth time, at the David Sassoon Library gardens on Wednesday.

Gujarati-language poet Udayan Thakkar at the event on Wednesday.(Supreet Sapkal/HT)

“This evening is about poets celebrating themselves,” said Anjali Purohit, co-curator of the literature section and a participating poet. “Here, poets, universally a solitary tribe, get an entire evening to listen to each other, discuss their work, face their audience, and that makes this event special.”

Also participating was Ranjit Hoskote, who curated the literature section until last year and was responsible for setting up Hope Street Poets.

“When I started this event, I wanted it to be linked to its very precise location — David Sassoon Library Marg was once called Hope Street; and these words also have a powerful metaphorical quality,” said Hoskote. “The specialty about this particular event is it’s designed like a Hindustani classical baithak. It also reflects the diversity of poetic practice.”

Senior established poets, regulars and new writers all participate, and this edition featured Adil Jussawalla, Jane Bhandari, Vinita Agrawal and Mustansir Dalvi, among others.

Renowned Guajarati-language poet Udayan Thakkar, 62, read some of his new poems in Gujarati and read out the translations too, including one on Dalit issues, and a touching verse recreating a conversation between a father and a son about how the whole world is one family.

Barnali Ray Shukla, 44, was participating for the first time. “To me this is a great honour. I have always been in the audience,” she said. She read from her first book, Apostrophe, lines relating to belonging and not needing to belong, and finding one’s voice in a broken universe.

“I never miss Kala Ghoda and among the events I make it a point to catch is Hope Street Poets,” said Sujata Chakraborty, 48, a homemaker from Deonar. “These evening give me fresh hope that literature is still alive and people are still enthusiastic about poetry.”