Aug 03 2024 to Aug 04 2024 9:30 a.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Grand Mercure at Gopalan Mall

Opp RMZ Infinity Techpark Swamy Vivekananda Road 530093

Event Description

The 8th edition of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival (BPF) features a diverse program of poetry performances, explorations of the connections between poetry and music, discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions.

"Poetry goes on when nothing else does. It is our only weapon against mortality. Long after we are gone, the hard truths that came howling out of our hearts in the middle of the night will remain. Bengaluru Poetry Festival is coming with song and strange new rhapsodies, with magic poems, shock poems and poems that whisper tenderly. Verse is flying at you," said Shinie Antony, Festival Director.

This year's festival builds on previous editions, aiming to attract even more attendees with a packed schedule. Over 50 poets, artists, musicians, and music makers are confirmed to participate.

Key highlights include:

Discussions and Interactive Sessions:

• Shankar Mahadevan in conversation with biographer Ashis Ghatak.
• Ila Arun's journey in the music industry.
• Actor M. Nasser on Tamil literature and poetry.

Poetry Readings:

• Anand Thakore and Ranjit Hoskote.
• Varun Grover on his award-winning songs and poetry.
• Saumya Joshi on his hit song “Khalasi.”
• Jayant Kaikini's rare solo reading.

Interpretation of Poetry into Other Art Forms:

• Performances by Kavish Seth, O Gaanewali, and Vipul Rikhi.
• Dance interpretations by the Bendre Project and Madhu Natraj’s Stem Dance Kampni.
• The poetics of Hindi Cinema with curator Sadhana Rao.

The festival will feature poetry in multiple languages, including Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, and Bengali.

Children’s Fest @ BPF 2024: The festival includes a full-fledged Children’s Festival with activities such as poetry, storytelling, music, theatre, and magic. Highlights include:

• “Into The Wild” with Vaishnavi Giri.
• “Ten Indian Languages” by Karthik Venkatesh.
• “Bounce Pop and Raaga Pop” with Shyama Panikkar.

Workshops for Adults and Children: The festival's workshops offer unique learning opportunities, including:

• "Words, Sounds, Images: How to Produce Kattaikkuttu Style."
• Haibun writing with Rochelle Potkar.
• Ghazal writing with Rohit Nand.
• A musical workshop with Leon James.
• Hindi poetry workshop with Rajesh Joshi.

For children, workshops include:

• STEAM adventures with Soumya Nagarju.
• Art Magic by Mohan Kanna.