Rhyme Scheme

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 Chitre’s 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 don’t get publishers,but it was then I realised that the situation wasn’t 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 poet’s 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 don’t 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 doesn’t 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.

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