Poetry in the City

Ranjit Hoskote is a cultural theorist, curator and poet. He is the author of more than 25 books, including Vanishing Acts: New & Selected Poems 1985-2005 (Penguin, 2006) and Central Time (Penguin/ Viking, 2014), and the monographs Zinny & Maidagan: Compartment/ Das Abteil (Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/ Walther König, 2010) and Atul Dodiya (Prestel, 2014). Hoskote has translated the poetry of the 14th-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded as I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded (Penguin Classics, 2011). With Ilija Trojanow, he has co-authored Kampfabsage (Blessing, 2007; in English as Confluences: Forgotten Histories from East and West, Yoda, 2012). With Nancy Adajania, he is co-author of The Dialogues Series (Popular, 2011), an unfolding programme of conversations with artists. With Maria Hlavajova, he is editor of Future Publics: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art (BAK, 2015). Since 1993, Hoskote has curated 30 exhibitions of contemporary art, including two monographic surveys of Atul Dodiya (Bombay: Labyrinth/ Laboratory, Japan Foundation, Tokyo, 2001; and Experiments with Truth: Atul Dodiya, Works 1981-2013, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, 2013), a lifetime retrospective of Jehangir Sabavala (National Gallery of Modern Art, Bombay and New Delhi, 2005-2006), a historical survey of Indian abstraction, Nothing is Absolute (with Mehlli Gobhai; CSMVS/ The Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, 2013), a survey of 150 years of art by Parsi artists within the narrative of an emergent Indian modernism, No Parsi is an Island (with Nancy Adajania; NGMA Bombay, 2013-2014 and NGMA Delhi, 2016), and Unpacking the Studio: Celebrating the Jehangir Sabavala Bequest (CSMVS, Bombay, 2015). Over 2000-2002, Hoskote co-curated the trans-Asian collaborative project, ‘Under Construction’ (Japan Foundation: Tokyo and other Asian centres). Hoskote co-curated the 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008) and was curator of India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011). He served on the jury of the 56th Venice Biennale.

Udayan Thakker is a postmodern Indian poet writing in Gujarati. English translations of his poems have appeared in:'Poetry' magazine (Chicago)'Young Indian Poets'(Editor: K Satchidanandan) 'Digest of West Indian Languages' (Sahitya Akademi), 'Indian Literature', 'Modern Gujarati Poetry' 'Modern Indian Poetry'(Editor: E V Ramakrishna) 'Breath Becoming Word' (Government of Gujarat) 'Beyond the Beaten Track' (Gujarati Sahitya Parishad) and 'Stand' (Leeds). A volume of English translations of his poems has been published by Onslaught Press, England. A book of Japanese translations of his poems has been published by JUNPA. Udayan has recited poetry at about 25 places in U.S.A. (including at Harvard College, MA), Antwerp, London, Kenya, Dubai, Muscat, and Lisbon. His first book of poems was prescribed as a textbook at SNDT University, Mumbai. Two of his books have received the award of 'Best Poetry Collection of the Year' (by Gujarat State Sahitya Acadamy, & Gujarati Sahitya Parishad.) He writes a weekly column on world poetry in the newspaper 'Janmabhumi'. Udayan is Editor of poetryindia.com.

Sampurna Chattarji is a poet, fiction-writer and translator. Her fifteen books include the poetry titles Absent Muses (Poetrywala, 2010); The Scorpion (HarperXXI, 2013) and Space Gulliver: Chronicle of an Alien (HarperCollins, 2015); the novels Rupture and Land of the Well (both from HarperCollins); a short-story collection about Bombay/Mumbai, Dirty Love (Penguin, 2013); and a translation of Joy Goswami’s Selected Poems (Harper Perennial, 2014, 2018). She has co-authored Elsewhere Where Else / Lle Arall Ble Arall with Eurig Salisbury and is currently Poetry Editor of The Indian Quarterly.

Chintan Ruparel spent 7 years in mainline advertising at India’s top agencies, having won 30+ local and international awards like Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Clio, Adfest, Spikes Asia and several more. He also bagged Gold at the first edition of Longhand Awards - a popular online writing initiative judged by ad legends Neil French, Indra Sinha and Prasoon Joshi among others. He then took a break from advertising and travelled the length and breadth of India for the next few months, figuring out his next venture. Four years on, he is now the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Terribly Tiny Tales - the most loved storytelling platform with 75,000+ writers from around the world, and a weekly organic reach of 12 million. He also looks after Terribly Tiny Talkies, which has creatively produced some of the best short films to come out of India in the last two years. He has also been on the first ever short film panel at NFDC’s Knowledge Series at Film Bazaar in 2016; and debuted with a memorable session at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.

Bachi Karkaria is a veteran journalist and columnist with the Times of India. She also curates the Times of India Litfest.