Bengaluru Poetry Festival is back this weekend

The eighth edition of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival is set to take place this weekend. The two-day event will see a host of panel discussions, workshops, and poetry interpretations, featuring 50 poets, artistes and musicians.

Speaking about the theme of the festival, Shinie Antony, festival director, said “The theme has always, from Day 1, been words. Spoken, sung, performed, recited, narrated…”

Launched in 2016, the festival has seen participation from over 450 poets and artistes from across the country. With a changing roster of poets every year, this edition will feature names like Jayant Kaikini, Ranjit Hoskote, Jeet Thayil, Ira Sisodia, and Avrina Prabala Joslin.

“This year we also have music composer-singer Shankar Mahadevan of the ‘Breathless’ fame, and lyricist Varun Grover. Manjamma Jogathi (folk theatre artiste and singer) will also perform. ‘O Gaanewali’, a concert of ghazals, is also lined up,” adds Shinie.

Some of the discussions slotted for this year are: ‘Her Voice: Women’s Stories and Songs’, by Manasi Prasad with Sandhya Mendonca, on the feminine perspectives in traditional and contemporary music; ‘My Immersion into Art’, a talk by actor M Nasser on his journey with Tamil literature and poetry; ‘Vote for Ghagra’, an interactive session with folk-pop singer Ila Arun. Ila will discuss her poems and lyrics with music scholar Ramya Vaasisht.

Workshops on ghazal writing, Haibun poetry, and Kattaikkuttu are also slotted.

Two poetry books — ‘Longitudes of Light’ by Nandita Bose and ‘This Place I’ve Never Been’ by Rudrakshi Bhattacharjee — will also be launched at the event.

On August 3 and 4, 9.30 am to 8 pm at Grand Mercure Bengaluru at Gopalan Mall, Old Madras Road. For details, visit bengalurupoetryfestival.org

For children

This year, the Bengaluru Poetry Festival will also feature author interactions, workshops and other programmes for children. These will be spread over two days and are open to children in the age group five to 12.

Nature sketching, magic performance and jam sessions are some activities planned for them.