‘Poetry Conclave’ of Kolkata is Global Now

Rajorshi Patranabis

Rajorshi Patranabis

                           Poetry Conclave, one of the popular platforms of poetry reading, discussion and poetry book launch, celebrated its ninth poetry reading session, on line on the 20th day of September, 2020. In all these sessions, reputed and upcoming poets from India and abroad read their poems, alongside poetry book launch and discussions.

                        Like many important inventions, Poetry Conclave happened accidentally when two Kolkata-based poets, Gopal Lahiri and Rajorshi Patranabis met over coffee at a cafeteria in southern part of Kolkata.  Although they had been meeting for quite some time, this time around things took a different turn and they decided to start a conclave for English poetry in Kolkata. There were not many forums for young and unknown talents in Indian English poetry in Kolkata to showcase their creativity at that point of time. A constructive discussion with two esteemed poets, Aneek Chatterjee and Sharmila Ray followed and it helped strengthen the idea of a poetry forum in the city where poets would read and discuss their creations, along with launch of new poetry books. Thus the ‘Quad’ started their poetic journey. Soon Poetry Conclave became a favorite platform of city based poets writing in English. 

                          Initially the Conclave took place regularly at a Coffee shop in Kolkata, where poets read and discussed their poems and had ‘adda’ with coffee and snacks. A few conclaves were held in big auditoriums in Salt Lake and New Town areas in and around the city of Kolkata.  

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After the outbreak of Corona virus, Poetry Conclave went on line with poets from different parts of India and abroad taking part regularly with zeal.  Poetry Conclave is honored to have poets from Kashmir, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Kolkata in India, and poets from Pakistan and Bangladesh reading their creations in different episodes so far.  Respected poets like Sunil Sharma, Ayaz Rasool Nazki, Aminur Rahman, Sekhar Banerjee, Amanita Sen, Nandita Samanta, Masooma Ali and others read their compositions in different episodes of Poetry Conclave. Young poets like Jagari Mukherjee, Nikita Parik, Urna Bose, Sreetanwi Chakrabarty and many others presented their Creations in different versions of the Conclave.  

      

                The ‘Quad’ is especially thankful to noted poet Sunil Sharma for his support to the Conclave. The tenth episode of Poetry Conclave will take place on the virtual platform on 18th October, 2020. As usual poets from different parts of India will participate and read their poems in the tenth episode. Poetry Conclave has plans to invite more and more poets from India and abroad to enlighten the sessions. The Conclave received tremendous encouragement from poetry lovers all over the world, as evident from increasing viewership of its programs. The journey will continue.   

Bio: Rajorshi Patranabis is a bilingual poet and translator. A food consultant by profession, his poems have appeared in many national and international journals and anthologies.

The Crossover - Love beyond Eternity is his collection of English poems.

Feriwala is his collection of Bengali poems

Norjon Soikot -Luit Hooghly is a translation project of Bengali and Assamese poetry, wherein he has translated and his Bengali work has been translated. This collection is releasing very soon in the near future.

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Setu, September 2020