Poetry Chain, the city’s poetry reading event to promote poetry writing in English, is being revived with the first reading scheduled to be held at YMCA Library and Learning Centre on Saturday, 5 pm.
It will be an inaugural session of a poetry movement in the city that was continuously making waves from 1997- 2007. Poetry Chain has put many young poets who first appeared through its forum, in national limelight.
It has conducted readings by leading international poets such as Ruth Padel and Meena Alexander. Many upcoming poets as Rizio Raj, Anupama, M Mohan Kumar, Siddartha Menon and M K Ajay who have gone on to independently publish poetry collections at a national level first appeared through Poetry Chain readings and in Poetry Chain Journal.
The revival of Poetry Chain meet is led by its founder president Gopikrishnan Kottoor, who has a record of four major all India prizes, which includes the Special All India Prize for the Best Poem for his poetry.
Poetry Chain revival will begin with a remembrance of its mentor the late Ayyappa Paniker. This will be followed by a reading by poets.
This time it is proposed to continue the sessions in a sustained manner once a month, with the munificence of YMCA general secretary Shaji James, who has extended venue and support in the main hall of The Learning Centre.
Poetry Chain also proposes to include language poets, and to encourage their translations into English. Poets can speak about their experiences in writing poetry, as they share their poetry. Copies of the latest issue of Poetry Chain will be made available to the participants.