The upcoming edition of Bengaluru Poetry Festival is packed with big names from the poetry world

If you are someone who is head over heels for poetry, the upcoming eighth edition of Bengaluru Poetry Festival (BPF) is a must visit. Featuring an interesting mix of poetry performances, explorations of the connections between poetry and music, discussions about poetry and opportunities to learn through workshops and interactive sessions — it does seem like a paradise for poetry lovers. More than 50 poets, artistes, musicians and music makers are set to grace the two-day festival, which includes names like Anand Thakore, Ranjit Hoskote, Varun Grover, Saumya Joshi, Jayant Kaikini, Shankar Mahadevan, Ila Arun and many more. To get more insights about the festival, we get into a quick chat with Subodh Sankar, co-founder of the festival

“I am someone for whom the sound of poetry is very special. Even if it’s a language that you don’t understand, there’s a way in which poetry falls on your ears that is almost magical. Indian poets are very talented in the way they read and once again this year, we’re going to have poetry in so many different Indian languages. Also, every year what surprises me is the way different artistes who practice different art forms interact with poetry. Every year we have ways in which poetry is explored by artistes who are not poets. We have Manjamma Jogathi (theatre actress and singer) and her group who are going to perform at the festival. They have their own poetry and music that comes from their jogappa bhakti tradition. We also have young bharatanatyam dancers, Janani Murali and Prathibha Ramaswamy, who have been working with the poetry of DR Bendre (Kannada lyric poet),” begins Subodh.

Since the upcoming festival is the eighth edition of the BPF, we ask Subodh on how this one is different from the previous ones. He replies that the festival will always be different in the way the content was curated. “I don’t think we do anything based on how this year’s festival has to be different from the previous one. Even if a poet who came four years ago comes again to read from their work, they would do it very differently. Also, when artistes interpret poetry or intersect with poetry through their own primary art forms, they would do it differently from what others might have done in the past”, he adds

“Some are sort of fruits of many years of our labour,” adds Subodh when we asked how the list of artistes was decided for the festival. “Varun Grover being the classic example. We have been inviting Varun to our festival from our first edition. So from 2016, every year without fail, we get in touch with Varun. This time, the stars aligned and his schedule aligned,” he adds. Every year, they also try and get some headliners to appeal to a slightly larger audience than just poetry lovers. Artistes like Shankar Mahadevan and Ila Arun, who are connected to the world of poetry, also bring in new audiences. Subodh believes that part of the curation process is also to expand the community. “When Shankar Mahadevan brings his own audience, they might come there because they know him as a musician. But when they come there and see that his music is all set in poetry, they become part of this larger poetry community. We also always try to include new languages into the festival,” says Subodh.

Expanding on the idea of including more Indian languages in the festival, Subodh shares, “Last year we had a poet that read in Khasi. In the previous years, we have had poets come and read in Manipuri. So, the quest is to get virtually every language covered at some point in time. We do our best to try and do that. In fact, even within Karnataka, we have had languages like Kungara, which is a language spoken by probably not more than a handful of people represented as part of the festival.”

Entry free. August 3 & 4, 9.30 am to 8 pm. At Grand Mercure Bengaluru at Gopalan Mall, Old Madras Road.

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