Launch of '50 Poets 50 Poems' by The PEN All -India Centre, Mumbai
Link to Indian Express coverage: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/227748.html

HALF A TON
by Alaka Sahani

Mumbai, October 12: The Call of poetry must be tough to ignore. Not surprisingly, when writer Priya Sarukkai Chabria asked poets across India to denote a poem each for a new anthology, they poured in from all corners. Fifty of them now form 50 Poets 50 Poems, which was launched at Theosophy Hall yesterday.

Though no theme was specified for the anthology, an ode to poetry and poets emerged as the common thread among the collected poems. “It’s almost serendipitous. As I was going through the poems, I realised that most of the poets have talked about poetry,” says Chabria, a novelist and poet.

This works fine, considering that the anthology published by Open Space is an effort to reflect faith in poetry and keep its readership alive. “The aim was to make poetry more accessible and available to its potential lovers,” says Chabria, admitting the role of Internet in proliferation of poetry.

The launch of the book, which Pen India had hosted, doubled up as a celebration of poetry, says Chabria. With Mumbai-based poets Adil Jussawalla, Marilyn Noronha, Peter Griffin, Anju Makhija, Anand Thakore, Sampurna Chattarji and Gieve Patel reading their poems at the venue, the anthology’s editor is right in saying that. Chattarji says, “When the creative community is fraught by external—and often inimical—influences, an event like this serves as a celebration of poetry as joyous cultural expression”.

The process of collecting poems and promoting poets started nearly a year ago when ‘Talking Poetry India’ was launched on openspaceindia.org. Chabria, who has edited the book, also edits this poetry segment. Apart from this, she has a novel The Other Garden and Dialogue and Other Poems to her credit while her next novel, Generation 14, is in the press at Zubaan, an imprint of publishers Kali for Women. Open Space plans to distribute the compilation through non-commercial organisations.

The book of poems, which was also released in Delhi recently, will be taken to Chennai and Kolkata next where a roster of poets will read to the audience.