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Ramya Nambessan with Archana Vasudev
Explore actress and singer Ramya Nambessan's music persona, her creative process and the poetry behind her music.
Anuradha Singh, Gagan Gill, Lovely Goswami, Parwati Tirkey with Neeraj Pandey
A powerful discussion exploring how individual truths manifest in art and life with the best of Hindi poets, including Sahitya Akademi award winner Gagan Gill and Yuva Puraskar Winner Parwati Tirkey.
Claudia Keelan with Mani Rao
A look at American poet, translator and essayist Claudia Keelan’s body of work.
Bilal Moin, Bruce Lee Mani, Maitreyee B Chowdhury, Vivek Narayanan
A sampling of this year's 'The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City', a collection that offers an immersive lyrical exploration of India’s urban landscape.
Anju Makhija, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Mamta Sagar with Debasish Lahiri
How do poets transform their craft over a lifetime? Explore the shifts, discoveries, and enduring themes that shape their work, from early verses to today.
The Puppetarians - Hashim Haider and Sangya Ojha
The Puppetarians unveil a new genre - Spoken Puppetry, with this poetic puppet piece about eternal love. What happens when love outlives time, memory, and society.
Devashish Makhija, Neeraj Pandey, Ritwik Kaikini with Archana Vasudev
How does poetry support and elevate the narrative in cinema? Listen to a film maker and two young lyricists starting to make their mark on the big screen.
Atreyee Majumder, Debasish Lahiri, Meera Ganapathi, Santosh Bakaya, Saraswati Nagpal
How does a poet travel through their verse? Join these poets as they navigate borders, belonging and home.
Siddhartha Gigoo with Maitreyee B Chowdhury
Siddhartha Gigoo gives us a unique take on arguably the greatest of poets from Kashmir, based on the works of his own father Arvind Gigoo. This is Lal Ded like never before.
Ravi Shankar Etteth with Smitha Sehgal
With biting wit and singular understanding, here is a collection of poetry that will walk you through the ephemeral nature of life.
Mamta Sagar and Shobha Nayak, performance by team Kaavya Sanje - Chand Pasha N.S, Dadapeer Jyman, Hajeera Khan and Siddartha M.S
Kannada poet Mamta Sagar brings to you her latest work, along with a performance.
Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal
Dive with us into the extraordinary life and work of an artist who's voice knew no bounds.
Ali Al Maazmi, Amal Al Sahlawi, Claudia Keelan, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Shirani Rajapakse with Jeet Thayil
Join five poets across the universe as they examine how individual narratives connect and resonate worldwide with Bangalore boy Jeet Thayil.
Suman Sridhar with Sharon Lopez
Join Suman Sridhar as she connects verse and voice. Discover how poetry forms the very heart of her captivating songwriting, and swing along to her sultry sound.
Danish Husain
The struggle with comprehending words and their meaning, and to form a bond with them to string them together into poetry.
UTKARSH Poetry Fellowship is instituted in remembrance of Utkarsh Verma by his mother Dr. Neena Verma, in association with the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.
Bhumika Anand
An anthology from the Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW), a first-of-its-kind writing and storytelling school that continues to thrive as an engaged community.
Sandhya Mridul with Devashish Makhija
You know her from the screen and stage. Come, listen to her read from her debut book of poetry.
Justh with Shrabonti Bagchi
The man behind the viral sensation 'Chor' is back with 'Unse Jaake Kehdo'. Listen, as he emphasizes the importance of storytelling set to music.
Amy Singh, Anvar Ali, Danish Husain with Saraswati Nagpal
Explore the vibrant intersection of poetry and performance. This session brings together artists who ignite verse with rhythm.
Swanand Kirkire with Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri
He is a poet of the screen, crafting lyrics that resonate with the human spirit. Let's understand how Swanand Kirkire brings words to life.
Madhan Karky, Sikkil Gurucharan with Akhila Krishnamurthy
A lyricist-poet and a musician reflect on their own personal trysts with the notion of imagination and innovation, and share the some Aha moments that make an artist continue to seek and pursue their art.
Bilal Moin and Devashish Makhija
Two poets explore how words are a vital force for poetry. A compelling conversation on mortality.
Amy Singh, Anju Makhija, Manjul Bajaj with Siddhartha Gigoo
Hark!, the timeless wisdom of the subcontinent. Discover the powerful traditions that illuminate the human spirit.
Hajeera Khan, Manisha Patil, Parmanand, Rajani Radhakrishnan, Suchi Govindarajan, Zoheb Khan
Join a dynamic collective of Bengaluru's poets as they celebrate the city's rich and varied poetry scene.
Aishwarya Iyer, Amal Al Sahlawi, Smitha Sehgal, Shirani Rajapakse with K Srilata
Women's voices take center stage, exploring powerful narratives and truths. Discover stories of strength and spirit, expressed with raw honesty.
Mani Rao with Dharini Bhaskar
'So That You Know' is the quintessential Mani Rao collection. These are poems that hold the playful exuberance of youth and the dazzling insight of age; that are at times measured, at times extravagant.
Ali Al Maazmi, Anvar Ali, Bishnu Mohapatra, Malsawmi Jacob, Shobha Nayak with Manjul Bajaj
Experience the rich tapestry of poetry from diverse linguistic landscapes. Varied expressions bridge worlds, presented with English translations.
K Srilata, Vivek Narayanan with Aishwarya Iyer
Experience the living legacy of India's ancient epics through 'The Footnotes to the Mahabharata' and 'The Kuruntokai and Its Mirror'.
Parvathy Baul
Parvathy’s performance work emerges from a long lineage of master Baul singers, dancers, and spiritual teachers. Watch as she mesmerises us with her performance.
UTKARSH Poetry Fellowship is instituted in remembrance of Utkarsh Verma by his mother Dr. Neena Verma, in association with the Bengaluru Poetry Festival. A poet at heart, a scientist in mind, a naturalist in spirit, and a devoted server of the cause of inclusive learning, Utkarsh transcended the mortal realm on 24th September 2014. This Fellowship honours his deep love and unique talent for poetry. In his brief yet immensely meaningful life of 22 years and 3 months, Utkarsh effortlessly combined a deep love for sciences and poetry, with commitment for wildlife conservation, and quiet service of children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. An immersive reader, Utkarsh’s vast span spread across sciences, poetry, nature, wildlife, literature, development economics and depth psychology. Taking forward Utkarsh’s legacy mission, his mother Neena has established the UTKARSH Poetry Fellowship in association with the Bengaluru Poetry Festival, apart from UTKARSH (academic) Fellowship, and UTKARSH Library endeavours that she is already running. This Fellowship is a missionary endeavour to honour and support young unpublished poets in deepening their understanding and craft for poetry.
Poetry, as poet Kahlil Gibran says, is “ a deal of joy and pain and wonder ”, and “ wisdom that enchants the heart ”.
We invite you to pen poems that enchant hearts and inspire wisdom. Let a particular word, or interpreted meaning of the following thematic prompts dance you to deeper truths and invoke your creativity.
Do stick to the prompts, and write one poem each on both. The poems must be in English, in forty lines or less (excluding blank lines), original and unpublished. Please caption each poem with the thematic prompt it relates to, and a title.
“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky.”
“The world is indeed full of peril…
and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief,
it grows perhaps the greater."
Janaki Sabesh
Storytelling
Sneha Joshi
Puppetry & Activity
Meera Ganapathi
Book Reading
Kavitha Mandana
Book Reading & Activity
Meghna Shirish
Creative Activity
Devashish Makhija and Priya Kuriyan
Activity & Storytelling
Aparna Jaishankar and Jyothi Shenoy
Crafts & Stories
Suchi Govindarajan
Outdoor Activity
Mala Kumar
Book Reading
Bijal Vachharajani
Book Reading
Riddhi Maniar Doda
Book Reading
Ashok Rajagopalan
Storytelling
Shreya Pothula
Acitivity & Storytelling
Saisudha Acharya and Janani Murali
Book Reading & Activity
Sanjana Kulkarni
Animal Interaction & Storytelling
Bhavana D
Illustration
Akila Kannadasan
Book Reading
Purnima Ramakrishnan
Book Reading
Shubhshree Mathur
Storytelling
Niyatee Sharma
Book Reading
Kasturi Shinde and Trupti Kalamdani
Poetry Writing
The Puppetarians
Puppet Activity and Play
