A group of escapists who claim to be OCD-ing on the infamous teen film Dead Poets Society have created a platform for writers, illustrators and spoken word poets. East India Poets, EIP for short, believe that people can indeed be connected through art.
Fascinatingly enough, the creation of East India Poets happened over coffee! Two friends, Raktim Gautam and Bishal Pratim Nath, both students at Assam Engineering College, got talking about ideas over steaming cups of coffee at an outlet for budding poets. The conversation led to the creation of the East India Poets core team which consists of budding designers, illustrators, content creators from different walks of life.
East India Poets was officially launched on the 13th of November, 2017. It strives to provide a platform for poets and illustrators to freely showcase their art, and at the same time, aims to revive the art form of poetry in the region.
They have hosted many interesting events in last few months. They are the team responsible for organizing Guwahati’s biggest Poetry Slam (stylized, D̶e̶a̶d̶ Poet’s Society) and initiating the first poetry festival in the city (Guwahati Grand Poetry Festival). They also collaborated with YourQuote.in to organize Northeast India’s first ever open mic event.
D̶e̶a̶d̶ Poet’s Society: Chapter One
On 27th December of last year, the East India Poets team organized their first ever poetry slam which turned out to be the biggest in the city in terms of the audience and the number of participants. Held at ‘The Tea Story Cafe’, a total of 45 poets participated in the event. The audience strength was around 135, which was a remarkable feat for a poetry slam.
The Grand Poetry Festival
The team collaborated with Nidus Associates & Consultants Pvt Limited and the English Department of Cotton University to organize the Guwahati Grand Poetry Festival, which was held in the month of January this year. Writers and panellists from across the country participated in the two-day event.
The event was graced by guests and renowned poets including Madhu Raghavendra (Founder, Poetry Couture), Tenzing Tsundae (Outlook-Picador Award winner), Nandini Sahu (winner of two gold medals in English Literature) and many more. The East India Poets conducted their second poetry slam ‘RE-VERSE’ on the first day of the event, which opened to a packed venue.
‘I think Raktim and his team at East India Poets are doing a fabulous work of taking poetry to the young aspiring poets and giving them a platform to perform. This is important as Guwahati has an upcoming spoken word poetry scene not only for English and Hindi, but also for Assamese. This culture building will give way experimentation poetry and help propagate mixing of performing arts as well in coming years,’ says Madhu Raghavendra, Poet and Founder, Poetry Couture
YourQuote Open Mic
YourQuote.in, one of the biggest online poetry platforms of India collaborated with East India Poets to conduct its first ever open mic event in Northeast India, which was held in IIT Guwahati on the 18th of February. With over 100 spectators including participants, the event was a big success.
East India Poets is currently planning to host the second chapter of D̶e̶a̶d̶ Poet’s Society and will be releasing details such as dates, timing, events at a later date. You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram to know more.
They also have an open-ended system of contribution where anyone can send in poetry or illustration-based content. Interested? Mail them at eastindiapoets@gmail.com
By Deirdre Basumatary
