Nestled in JJ School of Art is CM Master Hall where a hundred poetry lovers and poets gathered on Saturday. Organiser of the festival,Hemant Divates dedication towards poetry goes beyond passion; he says it is his booze,his poison. The festival is being held to celebrate the decade-long existence of Poetrywala,the publishing house that Divate started with his wife,Smruti. I dont publish romantic poetry,which is easy to sell. I try and find authors who are experimenting with form and are pushing the boundaries of spoken word, says Divate,who works as the marketing director for a media firm,which fuels his addiction to poetry. Even before Poetrywala was launched,Divate was already in the business of publishing with his magazine,Abhidhanantar. Part of the Little Magazine Movement of the 90s,the quarterly published experimental works by now-famous Marathi poets,such as Manya Joshi and Sachin Ketkar. A poet himself,Divate launched Poetrywala to accommodate Dilip Chitres interest in his work. Ten years ago,Chitre said that he wanted to translate one of my poems from my book,Chautishiparyantchya Kavita. He returned in a couple of weeks with the entire book translated. I knew Marathi poetry dont get publishers,but it was then I realised that the situation wasnt any better for English poets, says Divate. Chitre came up with the name for the publisher and also designed their logo. It is fitting then that two translations of the legendary poets books,Says Tuka and Bombay Quartet,were released at the festival. Poetrywala has published over 40 titles,and many of the books have had multiple editions. I want to concentrate on translated works now. When I like a poem,I dont care which language I read it in or whether it was translated. This thought rung true when Sandesh Dhage read out his own poems at the festival. The auditorium was silent during his Marathi readings,but responded with applause when the translated work was read out. This obsession with English doesnt seem to bother Divate. He says,Marathi poets have strong support in their readers. There are authors whose works run into over 20 editions. The 100-odd people for a festival seem like a small number,but for poetry,it is a sizeable crowd. Divate is so upbeat about the turnout that he wants to make it an annual event.
