Poets Receive Royal Welcome at ‘The Durbar’

Poetry lovers of Hyderabad and Kolkata arrived at ‘The Durbar’ on Saturday, for a one-day poetry festival organised by Hawakal Publishers at The GN International Boutique hotel. Kolkata based, Hawakal Publishers, one of the leading independent presses in India, is known for its stand against vanity publishing. They have tirelessly worked for the cause of literature, particularly poetry, and the event was an extension of the same. The festival was planned by Bitan Chakraborty, founder, Hawakal Publishers, and Kiriti Sengupta, managing editor, Hawakal Publishers, and chief editor of Ethos Literary Journal, a venue for academic and creative writing. The objective of the event was to initiate a creative dialogue between poets of Kolkata and Hyderabad, as in the past few years, the latter city has become home to many published and reputed poets.

Eminent editor, columnist and author, Kingshuk Nag inaugurated the event and spoke about the differences between poetry and journalistic writing. Chief editor of Muse India, Atreya Sarma Uppaluri was felicitated with the ‘Shambhabi Samman’ 2019 for his lifelong contribution to literature. Poet Rebecca Vedavathy rendered a reading of women ‘bhakti’ poets. The next segments included two book launches: ‘The Soup Bowl’ and ‘Other Poems’ by Raja Chakraborty and Linda Ashok's ‘Whorelight’, the speaker being Nikita Parik, assistant editor, ‘Ethos Literary Journal’.

The afternoon session included an eclectic selection of poetry and criticism. Popular reviewer and scholar of translation studies, Manu S Kurup, raised questions regarding the role of critics, effects of harsh reviews, and the need for a developed tradition of critical thought in India. Eminent poet Shikhandin delivered a talk on trends in contemporary Indian poetry. She highlighted the contribution of P Lal towards the growth of Indian poetry in English and the silent revolution by many small, independent publishing houses like Hawakal, Red River Press, Copper Coin Publishers, Dahuli Books, Walking Book Fairs and Ræd Leaf Foundation for Poetry and Allied Arts. Shikhandin also released Nabina Das’s latest book of poems, ‘Sanskarnama’. The two poets spoke about poetic themes, language and the influence of Bengali poets like Jibananda Das. Poets Rimi Dey and Pitambar Naik shared their journey into poetry and read out poems from their respective books. Educator, poet Jhilam Chattaraj delivered a talk on “Interviews as literary criticism”. She explored the theoretical possibilities of studying this oft ignored genre.

The evening sessions began with Nabina Das releasing ‘The Eternity Restoration Project’ by Kushal Poddar. The poets spoke about the curious name of the poetry book and Kushal’s unique articulation of ordinary subjects. Poets, Chaitali Bose Bhattacharjee and Aneek Chaterjee, spoke about their passionate relationship with poetry and read out a few lyrical and evocative pieces on memory, nostalgia and nature.

Linda Ashok’s‘Best Indian Poetry’, 2018 was released, by Kiriti Sengupta who began the session with questions regarding the literary parameters followed by editors of anthologies. Nikita Parik, spoke about the representation of the female body in contemporary Indian English Poetry and read out poems from Sufia Khatoon’s ‘Death in a Holy Month’ and Srividya Sivakumar’s ‘The Heart is an Attic’. ‘The Durbar’ successfully concluded with a note of thanks by Utsab Ray (nonfiction editor, Ethos Literary Journal). The event has paved the way for future literary engagements between poets, critics, readers of Hyderabad and Kolkata.