Hawakal Publishers, in association with Oxford Bookstore, organized Lights in Verses,a one-day spring poetry festival in Delhi. The event took place in Oxford Bookstore, Connaught Place. The evening offered enriching literary discussions,book launches and poetry readings.

Vibha Malhotra started off the evening with a talk on the manifestation of personal pathos in contemporary poetry, after which Namrata Pathak discussed resistances, subversions, and alternate spaces in the poetry of Hoshang Merchant and Akhil Katyal. The next session saw the book launch of Nikita Parik’s debut book, Diacritics of Desire, by Padma Shri Keki N. Daruwala.

Kavya Sharma, Aseem Sundan and Rimi Dey enthralled the audience with their poetry readings. It was followed by the formal release of Kiriti Sengupta’s newest book of poems, Rituals, by distinguished academician Prof. GJV Prasad (Centre for English Studies, JNU).

The next session saw a tête-à-tête between Gopal Lahiri and Raja Chakraborty with Sarabjit Sarkar. The next session saw poetry readings by Arijit Roy, Kashiana Singh, and Meghna Prakash.

Rimi Mustuddi discussed about the harsh realities of the North Eastern states in the next session. Sarabjit Sarkar discussed Indian English Poetry on the World Map, contemplating whether to belong or to go beyond. The next session saw poetry readings by Papiya Bhattacharya and Divya Malhotra, which was followed by a formal vote of thanks.